With nothing to do on Friday night, I decided to scroll through TikTok, a popular video-sharing app for teenagers. And after viewing a plethora of videos, I stumbled across a preview for Netflix’s newest hit movie “He’s All That,” which has seemed to stir up controversy amongst viewers. With many calling it one of the worst movies of the year, I was interested to see for myself whether or not it would surprise me or follow after bad reviews. 

Even though the original romance movie “She’s All That” was a huge success in the 90s, Netflix felt the need to make a more modernized version of the story. The new plot of the movie revolves around an influencer that specializes in makeovers, who bets that she can transform any unpopular classmate into a Prom King. 

At just the start of the film, I could already tell that the acting was going to be something to see. The movie begins with Padgett (Addison Rae) discovering her boyfriend, fellow influencer and aspiring hip hop artist Jordan Van Draanen (Peyton Meyer), is cheating on her with a backup dancer. Padgett finds herself being humiliated when a live stream of their breakup results in her loss of followers and sponsorship deals. 

Trying to cope with her newfound unpopularity, Padgett makes a bet with her friends that she can transform any unpopular classmate into a prom king. Arrogantly, Padgett picks out Cameron Kweller (Tanner Buchanan) as the victim of her bet. While at lunch Padgett approaches Cameron who is hesitant at first, but soon begins to fall for her. Cameron is cast as the shy emo kid who sits in the back of the class, even though Cameron is just a hot guy that wears a beanie and needs a haircut. I mean literally in any other movie Cameron would be cast as the hot guy that all the girls want. It seems to me that they cast an attractive person and just made them look ugly so that that can have a glow up later on. 

After getting to know Padgett more, Cameron undergoes a complete makeover from “not too hot” thanks to Padgett, the “miracle worker”. Even though, the only thing she does is change his clothes and give him a haircut. I mean anyone can do that. After the reveal, Padgett’s reaction is unlike anything I have ever seen before. The lead actress must have read the script’s notes: “Cameron enters the room and his handsome face takes Padgett’s breath away.” In that scene, she is literally panting when she sees Cameron’s newfound hotness. I thought maybe I missed a scene where she was doing aerobics for a bit before he came out of the bathroom but no, that’s just how she played it… an interesting interpretation I guess.

Throughout the entirety of the movie, it was nearly impossible to continue watching because of my loss of interest. Rather than keeping my eyes glued to the TV, I found myself glancing down at my phone for half of the time. There were a lot of mistakes made during the movie, and I feel bad for the actor who plays Cameron, who had to try to build chemistry with a lead who has no idea what she’s doing. I mean Tanner really tried his hardest to carry this movie on his back, but it seemed like he never got a break. 

Despite the letdown that this movie has become, I thoroughly enjoyed the cameos of the original actors from “She’s All That.” Rachael Leigh Cook and the two minutes of Matthew Lillard was Netflix’s apology to the viewers for the rest of the film. I could watch those two in anything. They really should have just done a geriatric remake and they could have just read lines from the original movie. I’d be in for that. 

Unfortunately, this film is yet another example of the lack of good-quality romance films. I hope Netflix learns from their mistakes and casts actual actors next time. We need new plots for these types of movies in the future. I’m sick of seeing the same movies with different casts. After the 2000s, it seems that movies can no longer portray the romance between two people.