Class Rank

This film is not a new concept and didn't have any laugh out loud moments, but I was impressed with the amount of heart and simplicity that director Eric Stoltz could pack in. Every major character had an interesting backstory and underwent remarkable development. The movie was a bit dry at the start, but soon became finessed and balanced.

Kristen Chenoweth and Bruce Dern also played a crucial role as the adult role models for Veronica and Bernie's characters. I also think the movie gave an accurate portrayal of high school students, as opposed to other films that overplay cliques and other social conventions.

It's really a family movie. I think people of any age or demographic can appreciate its themes.

Veronica Krauss (Olivia Holt) is an uptight, overachieving high school student who lives with her divorced mom Janet (Kristin Chenoweth) in Livingston, New Jersey. She is horrified to be ranked second in her class with her chances at Yale diminishing. She appeals to the school board to abandon class ranking and is rejected. Her final option is to get the equally awkward classmate Bernard Flannigan (Skyler Gisondo) elected to the school board. Bernard has been going to the board meetings since his late grandmother sat as a member. He's an orphan living with his grandfather Oswald Flannigan (Bruce Dern).

The plot is a familiar high school outsider rom-com. Both characters are dorky overachieving loners. Skyler fits the role well but Olivia cannot help her pageant beauty looks. She can't escape the cheerleader trope. They fail to even darken and grease up her hair or simply put on a pair of bottle rim glasses. It's telling that she asks, "Who's the prettiest in class?" The question is tinged with a sense of vanity. It would be more poignant if she asks, "Am I pretty?" but that's a given for her. Anybody with eyes can see that she's pretty. Honestly, the boys would have asked her out over the years at school. This is a troubling oversight by actor turned director Eric Stoltz. He's seen enough to know the high school tropes. It's not like this is trying to break out of the genre. Maybe she could be compared to Tracy Flick in Election but Tracy would never ask if she's pretty. They should either pick another actress or deal with her beauty in the script. I do like calling them Virgin-ica and Barf-nard. There is some fun and some charm to the kids. That helps to give this movie some appeal but this is no classic.

I went into this movie without high expectations and got a nice 100 minutes of entertainment, enough that I went back for seconds and watched it again.

A reviewer described the two leads in this as quirky to which I have to say I totally agree, although the boy is the more quirky of the two. For most of the movie I really liked the girl, then didn't like her, then liked her again. The boy was always likeable from start to finish and he reminded me very much of Napolean Dynamite.

Bruce Dern and Kathleen Chalfant's characters for me were the hit, they stole all the scenes they were in. Bruce Dern still has it, as if he ever lost it, he had my laughing on more than one occasion. I loved his comment about Lithuania near the end of the movie.

Eric Stoltz did a pretty good job directing this movie and I did not even recognise him in the movie first time round.

A movie I would definitely recommend if you like rom coms.

This is a sweet little movie, a nice high school romance. Because it deals with a high schooler and elections, it begs comparison to 'Election', but unlike that movie, this one is neither cynical nor condescending to its characters. Because it's a high school romance, some compare it to the movies of John Hughes, but this one is not as artificial and self-important as those movies.

The acting is solid. The lead boy takes a little getting used to, with an awkward physicality and somewhat stilted speech; but it fits the character and grows on you. The girl is quite good, and looks like a young Diane Lane. There are supporting performances from veterans like Bruce Dern and Kristin Chenowith. There is even a cameo by the director, Eric Stoltz, who started off in teen romances himself once upon a time.

The movie is getting virtually no release here in the heartland. It deserves better, but even if you don't get a chance to see it in a theater, catch it on DVD.

Okay so I actually made an IMDB to review this movie. It empowered me so to speak..

First I wanna say this is a cute quirky rom-com that's set in a highschool with teen leads but honestly it's so much more than that!! Because through the film you get to understand what it means to make a difference and shows us our selfish side and what meaning we put in our lives. It also felt more real than many other highschool type movies and I love it for that. I'd say this is definitely a favorite movie I've seen recently. At first I didn't know what I got into...but soon you fall in love with the quirky characters and I hope there will be more movies like this to come!