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Not Another Teen Movie is actually a promising idea for a film and certainly one that was a long time in coming. After audiences have suffered through a couple of decades of teen epics both good and bad, from the critically-acclaimed John Hughes oeuvre to the wildly popular if more risque American Pie flicks, the genre has been ripe for a good skewering. Unfortunately, such a satire is nowhere to be found in Not Another Teen Movie, instead replaced by cynicism, jokes stretched too thin.

A pastiche of cliches anyone under the age of 35 will instantly recognize, I bet there is a sweet, funny movie somewhere in here trying to get out. First-time director and MTV impresario Joel Gallen and screenwriters Mike Bender and Adam Jay Epstein have got the basics right. The stock characters are all here - The Popular Jock, The Desperate Virgin, The Token Black Guy, The Nasty Cheerleader - and the ugly duckling-into-swan princess plot is just thin enough to hang the jokes on but not complex enough to get in the way. We even get some fun cameos and clever art direction and set design that makes reference to some of the 80's most revered teen films. Yet something went wrong from concept to final execution, namely a lack of taste and a consistent tone.

I don't think I'm a prude, and I love un-PC comedy as much as the next guy, but most of the gross sight gags and very low brow humor to be found in Not Another Teen Movie are just not funny. I'm sure vibrators, exploding toilets, incest and bestiality can be hysterical in the right hands - I believe any topic can get a laugh if done right - but Gallen, Bender and Epstein sacrifice genuine wit and warmth for crudity. The best teen movies have always had an underlying sweetness and goodwill to them, and Gallen and his team could have learned a thing or two from those John Hughes movies they claim to be so fondly paying tribute to. Yes, this is parody so it should be broad, and some of the sick stuff is amusing, but the constant abrasiveness wears thin, and the young, appealing cast is often left stranded. I attended a test screening of this flick last year, and even the 18 to 25 year-olds in attendance gagged more than the laughed. Perhaps there is hope for the future...

Video: How Does The Disc Look?

The film may be off-color, but this transfer sure ain't. Presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen, Not Another Teen Movie looks terrific. Sporting a pristine print with nary a nick or scratch, colors are bold, vibrant and strong with excellent stability. Blacks and contrast are dead-on, giving the image a clear and sharp look throughout that's often three-dimensional. Occasionally a shot or two might look a bit dark, and as mentioned in the commentary some filter work was done in various scenes due to increment weather, but detail and shadow delineation are generally excellent. Edge enhancement is present but hardly distracting, and aside from a few compression artifacts, this is a topnotch presentation indeed.

Audio: How Does the Disc Sound?

Presented in English Dolby Digital 5.1 surround, this is a fine little comedy soundtrack. Produced on a very low budget, overall dynamics and fidelity are good, though dialogue can sometimes sound flat and ADR is often noticeable. Like most comedy flicks, this mix is front heavy, with effects and music primarily directed to the front three speakers, although balance with the dialogue is solid. A few rear discrete effects are noticeable and the mix of rock and pop covers are nicely spread out across all channels on occasion. Low end is perfectly acceptable if no great shakes. A thoroughly adequate mix.

Also included is a French 2.0 surround track, English and French subtitles, and English Closed Captions.

Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

You know you're in trouble when about a third of the back of the packaging is taken up with all the special features included on the disc, especially for a film as marginal as this. But this is actually a pretty dang fine set of extras that will likely score with the target audience, which I'm sure is another sign of the pending apocalypse...

Highlights include the not one but three commentaries included, the first two in audio form, the third a text-based track. Up first are director Joel Gallen and co-writer Mike Bender, and though they pledge that this will be a "fun-filled" audio commentary, the only thing really funny is that these guys take their movie so seriously. Aside from the discussing the intricacies of the plotting and the "brilliant performances," the track is a bit dry and I wonder who is actually curious as to how this epic was made? Much better is the cast audio commentary with actors Chyler ("Janey") Leigh, Jaime ("Priscilla") Pressly, Chris ("Jake") Evans, Eric ("Austin") Christian Olsen, and Eric ("Ricky") Jungmann. I'm usually suspicious of actor commentaries, if only because it always seems like they're forced to do them by their publicists and agents and could really care less. But this one is quite fun, and unlike the filmmakers, the cast has a real sense of humor about the film and the ridiculous things they were asked to do. While low on production antecedents and high on giggles, at least this one was entertaining. Last but not least we have the Teen Movie Factoids track, which is a disappointment. A la VH-1's "Pop-Up Video," cute little color bubbles pop up throughout with little teen movie factoids, trivia and cast notes. Alas, none of these facts are particularly revealing, and lack the wit of even a bad episode of "Pop-Up Video." Too bad, because this movie was ripe for this kind of treatment.

But wait, there's plenty more. School's In Session is a 29-minute featurette divided into three parts. All feature a very nicely edited mix of new interviews and production footage, and it's actually all quite informative. "Best Dressed" (9 minutes) gives us a look at the film's costume design and the sets including all those nods to past John Hughes flicks, and interviews with production designer John T. Garrity and costumer Florence Isabelle-Meggisson; "Class Clown" (9 minutes) is an amusing tour of the film's gross-out gags and setpieces with visual effects artist John Hartison; and finally "My Freshman Year" (12 minutes) is a kissy-poo fest for director Gallen featuring the cast and crew affectionately recalling the wonderful time that was had by all.

Initially, I was really dreading the Test Your Ten Movie IQ trivia game, because these things are usually pretty lame. But this is one of the better-produced such games I've seen, and is hosted by Gallen, Bender and most of the cast. The questions are pretty easy if you're at all a teen movie fan, and different video vignettes that pop up depending on your answers are a nice touch. No less than 18 deleted scenes are also included in anamorphic widescreen, though the quality is still noticeably lower than the main feature. Running over 26 minutes, most of these scenes are pretty forgettable and short, and the alternate ending and "Sixteen Candles epilogue" sound funnier than they really are. Cooler still is the auditions montage that runs 8 minutes and is actually funny. Perhaps cut a bit too fast, we get off-the-cuff footage of most of the principal cast auditioning for their roles, complete with the silly dialogue. The Yearbook is a 7-minute animated still gallery with production and publicity photos of the main cast plus Gallen. And be forewarned...this little gem features a still of rotund star Ron ("Reggie") Lester's rather huge ass, so take cover...

Rounding out the goodies are some promotional items. From the head- scratcher department, Joel Gallen's first short film Car Ride is included, and it's 12 minutes of wasted money starring MTV icon Jenny McCarthy. What this has to do with the actual movie, I do not know. That scary Marilyn Manson contributes a cover of Soft Cell's famous 80's anthem "Tainted Love." The uncut music video in non-anamorphic widescreen is included here, along with a 5-minute MTV "Making the Video" segment that is highly amusing. Meet the Cast Promos features 9 TV spots, one for each character in film, that are a lot of fun and run 30 seconds apiece. Finally, a gaggle of five theatrical trailers for Not Another Teen Movie and other Columbia teen hits rounds out the extras. And last but not least, special mention must be made of the animated menus, which are all takeoffs on various 80's teen movie ad campaigns and far more witty than anything in the film...

DVD-ROM Exclusives: What do you get when you pop the disc in your PC?

Surprisingly, no ROM extras have been included.

Parting Thoughts