Is ‘He’s All That’ really all that?

Freshman+Lea+Weinstein+watches+Hes+All+That+on+Netflix+on+Sept.+12.

Photo by Rae Weinstein

Freshman Lea Weinstein watches ‘He’s All That’ on Netflix on Sept. 12.

Netflix recently released the film “He’s All That”, a remake of the 1999 film “She’s All That’, starring TikToker Addison Rae alongside Cobra Kai star Tanner Buchanan. Plenty of buzz surrounded the movie leading up to its release, and most of that transitioned to hate once viewed.

The plot was generally the same as the old version: a popular person gets out of a relationship and makes a bet with their friends to turn the “weird, ugly, kid” into a prom king or queen. 

Buchanan plays the weird kid, Cameron Kweller, but let’s be real, his character isn’t weird or ugly at all. Sure he didn’t have the best sense of style, but that isn’t that bad and it really isn’t weird to like photography.

Where this movie differs from the original, beside the gender swap, is that it takes place in the age of social media. Instead of playing a popular jock, Addison Rae plays a social media influencer with millions of followers named Padgett Sawyer. 

I am going to be honest, I hate-watched this movie and I was not disappointed. The dialogue is beyond cringe worthy. It feels so awkward and forced. I’m sorry, but Addison Rae cannot act.

The amount of product placement in this movie is  ridiculous. Every other  shot has some sort of close up on a random product. It makes the entire movie look like one big advertisement.

My favorite thing that happens in the movie is the scene with Addison Rae doing karaoke.  Standing in front of a green screen, she starts dancing and very noticeably, her arm disappears.  I am not sure what editor let this happen, but at least it was funny.

A classic teen movie trope – popular girl falls for weird boy, mean girl ruins it – is exactly what this movie is. The mean girl is named Alden and is played by Madison Pettis, who you might recognize as the cute little girl from that football movie “The Game Plan” with the Rock, which is all I can see in this entire movie.

Alden exposes the bet she made with Sawyer to turn Kweller into prom king just as he is asking her to prom. He freaks out and leaves, saying he would never talk to her again, which we all know is not going to happen.

Sawyer is upset, but goes to prom anyway even though she believes Kweller won’t be there. But, of course he is because his sister convinced him to go and not lose Sawyer. They make up, happy ending, the end.

This movie had potential to be good, but the execution is not there. Between the cringe dialogue, technical errors, questionable fashion choices and a random dance number, I would say overall this movie is a flop.

It is, however, Netflix’s number one movie right now. Why? One will never know.