Assassination of a High School President (2008)

Superbad meets grossout noir, boasting tangy teen dirty talk so thick, you could cut it with a well sharpened pencil. Which by the way, somebody does more than once.

Brett Simon's Assassination of a High School President is a small and pleasant surprise.

Clara: Forget it, Funke. It's high school.  "Politics, popularity, paranoia, pharmaceuticals. Are you in?" Assassination of a High School President is a really cool film in my opinion. It blurs the line between a typical set in high school movie and a noir; like Brick, but not nearly as serious. It doesn't take long to find out that this is using movies like Chinatown and All the Presidents Men for material. There's a lot of dialogue, references, and scenes that tell us just that. I liked the movie for that. It took serious conspiracy stories and threw them in a high school setting with a lot of stuff we would find familiar. The standard high school movie plot devices and characters that is. We are given a main character, Funke. He is a geek; unliked and unknown. He's also a writer for the school newspaper, although he has yet to write a single article. When the SAT's go missing, he finds who he thinks is the culprit and writes a story on him. The person he fingers is none other than the high school president. Soon, like in many other high school set films, the geek has been reborn as a "cool" kid and he's banging the hottest chick in school. From there the story keeps developing and the conspiracy widens and widens. It almost seems serious, except that it isn't. We're reminded of that by characters that take every serious situation and make it into a joke and by Bruce Willis who plays the principle in such a ridiculous and comical way. This isn't a great movie by any standards and I can see why many people didn't like it. It didn't really do anything original or noteworthy, but it seems like everyone involved thinks it is original. But all it is is a movie that has been done before thrown into a new setting. With that said, I loved it. There was nothing about it that I didn't like. I thought it was funny, well thought out, and smart in a stupid way. I liked the references and I didn't think there was a bad scene in the movie. Plus I couldn't stop laughing at the party scene where they are playing pong and a kid says "I got winner" and collapses onto the table, is then picked up and says he wants another toothpaste cigarette. It's funnier if you watch it, I swear.  All in all, this movie really surprised me. I didn't expect it to be nearly as fun or good as it was. Most of that came because of the lackluster reviews, but part of it was my own guess. I was wrong and I am really glad I took a chance on it. It's a movie I couldn't help falling in love with and I'm sure I will watch it many times in the future and get the same kick out of it I did the first time around.

REESE THOMPSON, BRUCE WILLIS, MISCHA BARTON, LUKE GRIMES, MELONIE DIAZ, MICHAEL RAPAPORT Forget it, Jake. It's...high school. With its noir roots, this stylish dark comedy pays homage to Roman Polanski's CHINATOWN. Reece Thompson (ROCKET SCIENCE) stars as a school newspaper writer who uncovers a conspiracy that is rampant among the students and teachers. Mischa Barton (THE O.C.) plays the young femme fatale, while Bruce Willis is an unhinged principal. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Loved this movie. Had a lot of odd characters that were very hilarious. Something I will definitely be watching again. Bruce Willis was very funny as the Principle who has this huge annoyance with kids chewing gum during school hours, to the point were he will literally take it out of your mouth. I really don't care to much for Mischa Barton, but she wasn't to bad in this movie. First time seeing a movie with Reese Thompson. Thought he was great. Read some things about how this movie is like the film 'Brick'. I have seen Brick and so I would have to disagree. I can only see one resemblance to both movie's. I won't name what it is so I don't spoil either movie for anyone else. But besides that I don't see any other resemblance. Brick is more of a suspense drama, and this film is more a dark comedy. Neither one should be missed though. Both are great movies. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Bobby Funke Narrating: "You want to know the truth about high school? You've got to break it down into its elements. Unfortunately, at St. Donovan's, the periodic table is more crooked than a case of scoliosis. Just give me the chance and I'll set it all straight. Case in point, Spanish homework. "Dame un batido de esperma" does not mean, "Take me to the airport." It means, "Give me a sperm milkshake." And 22 kids gave that as an answer in Spanish 3 last week. I'm not sure about the milkshake, but somebody is sure feeding us something sticky. Every clique on campus is copying the same damn homework. Burn-outs, pretty boys, drama-dorks, jocks, debaters, player-haters, you name it. Oh, it's big, all right. And I'm on it like pink rubber bands on your little sister's braces. The name's Bobby Funke. I write for the paper."