“The Perfect Score” (Paramount Pictures)
“The Perfect Score” is a teen movie aimed at the lowest common denominator of entertainment, which means lots of profanity and sexual innuendoes. Still the film does manage to find its plot point and has a positive message at the end of the movie. That bumps it up a little from the run of the mill.
The SAT exam is a necessary evil in high school, and “The Perfect Score” shows just how intimidating it can be. Kyle and Matty (Chris Evans and Bryan Greenberg) are two friends who need better scores in order to get to the colleges of their choice. The same is true of Anna (Erika Christensen) and Desmond (Darious Miles).
They are so desperate to get good scores that they hatch a plan to steal the answers. The opportunity to do this presents itself in the form of a girl named Francesca (Scarlett Johansson). She is the daughter of the man who owns the business where the answers are kept.
The rest of the movie deals with formulating the theft plan and then executing it. One of the key elements of pulling it off is utilizing the skills of a computer whiz named Roy (Leonardo Nam). He also adds some humor to the story.
None of this is overly interesting but the cast of young actors makes it better than it should be. With the exception of Miles, who sounds like he is reading his lines off cue cards, these actors enhance their roles and create believable characters. Johansson is the standout. Even in an ordinary film such as this one, she shines because of her talent.
The movie is rated PG-13 for profanity and sexual situations.
If you took out the profanity and the more blatant sexual remarks you would have a pretty good TV movie. But as movie entertainment that costs an arm and a leg, it is lacking. It would be best to wait for this one to arrive on video or being shown on an airplane when you are taking a trip.
Scarlett Johansson will one day look back on this film as being one of the few missteps she made in getting her career established. “The Girl With A Pearl Earring,” “Lost In Translation” and “The Perfect Score.” Which one doesn’t belong in a stellar career!
I scored “The Perfect Score” an imperfect 5 out of 10.
