by Rachel Klein ’22

Twenty-two years ago marks the release of the hit movie She’s All That, starring Rachael Leigh Cook and Freddie Prinze Jr. Since then, the rom-com has become a classic, right up there with 10 Things I Hate About You and She’s The Man. Like many good classics, Hollywood cannot resist the need to remake it. On August 25, Netflix released He’s All That. 

Since people love the original movie, the remake should have had a lot going for it. However, its potential audience started having doubts when influencer Addison Rae got the role of the main character Padgett Sawyer. 

The basic plot of both movies is that the most popular person in school gets broken up with a few weeks before prom where they are supposed to be crowned king/queen. They make a bet with their friends that they can take a random “loser” and turn them into the other prom king/queen. Fast forward a bit; the popular kid catches feelings for the “loser,” but the “loser” finds out it was all a bet and gets mad. They make-up and finally live happily ever after. 

He’s All That is a modernized version of She’s All That. Although this makes sense considering it is now 2021, it ruined the movie. The main character, Pagdett, is a social media influencer along with her ex-boyfriend. The whole movie revolves around their social media platforms, and it takes away from the original plot. Instead, the remake focuses too much on making it appealing to a 12-year-old, TikTok-obsessed audience.

To be fair, there are parallels between the two movies, such as the art show scene from the original movie and karaoke night scene from the new movie; the character of the popular kid’s ex-best friend (Alden in the 2021 movie, played by Madison Pettis, and Dean in the 1999 movie, played by Paul Walker); etc. However, most of these similarities would not have been very noticeable to a viewer who has not seen the original movie in 20 years. It is still good they are in there considering this is a remake, not a spoof, even though it feels like it at times.

Rae’s acting was not horrendous but it was definitely not good. In the scene where she finds out her boyfriend is cheating on her with his backup dancer and she throws croquembouche at them, she is screaming and crying. However, it was evident that she was acting and not genuinely angry or sad in character. In scenes where her character showed little emotion, her acting was fine. She is just playing herself in those scenes as a young social media influencer. Tanner Buchanan, who played Cameron Kweller, offers more competent acting throughout the movie. He is able to portray the emotions of his character in a realistic way. The moment when Cameron realizes that his relationship with Padgett is all a bet is one of the only times in the movie when he shows a good deal of emotion, and it was executed much better than Rae’s breakdown scene. Unlike Rae, he benefits from having prior acting experience in shows such as Cobra Kai on Netflix and Girl Meets World on Disney Channel. 

Although Rae’s acting was not convincing in this movie, she still signed a multi-project film deal with Netflix a few weeks after the release. So some still think that  Addison Rae is, or does have the potential to be, all that.

Grade: C-