By EWAN McDONALD
(Herald rating: * * * )
Berke (Ben Foster) is a nerd. When his girlfriend, Allison (Melissa Sagemiller), dumps him because she's bored, he's gutted. Especially when he sees Allison getting cosy with Striker (Shane West), the boy-band singer who has just moved into their school after touring the
world with the Swingtown Lads. Allison and Striker are auditioning for their high school's Shakespeare play, so Berke (nice name) decides to have a go, too.
Yes, this is another high-school movie. Yes, this is another rewrite of Shakespeare for the mall-rat generation. Yes, like 10 Things I Hate About You and Clueless, it's not half bad. It's only about a third bad, and that's when it descends into unnecessary, and nauseating, crudity.
Since Berke doesn't have a clue about Shakespeare he gets help from Kelly (Kirsten Dunst), younger sister of his best friend Felix (Colin West). Berke, living up to his name, doesn't realise that Kelly really, really, like, likes him.
The school play is an awful musical version of A Midsummer Night's Dream which allows the teacher to explain the play to let his teenage viewers come to the brilliant conclusion that its romantic entanglements closely resemble the Allison/Striker/Berke/Kelly situation.
Is Berke a hopeless actor?
Yes. Will the lead actor drop out and Berke have to take over the role? Yes. Will there be a happy ending involving much chemical rearrangement of teenage hormones? What do you think?
Rental video, DVD: Today
• DVD features: movie (86 mins); deleted scenes (8, with commentary, 91/2 mins); Martin Short out-takes (7 mins); commentary with director Tommy O'Haver and writer R. Lee Fleming; music videos (Love Scud, The Itch); five original songs, audio only; trailers; Martin Short makeup test; promotional feature (71/2 mins).
