Get Over It
There is so much guilty pleasure when it comes to teen movies. In fact, when you address anything “young adult,” (we have to call it that now because somehow the word “teen” has become taboo,) there is a preening sense of “I shouldn’t like this, but I do.” Much like popular music and the dredge of novels churned out with a feminine protagonist spouting ideals about a dystopian future, teen movies of the nineties and early naughties seemed similar cut out of the same dough. Kilned for longer than necessary and trying rather too hard is Get Over It, which is the epitome of “how to America teen” guides handed out at film schools for years.
Get Over It is the apparent modern take on Shakespeare’s A Midsummer’s Night Dream. Literally basing the story around a high school adaptation of the famed comedy, Get Over It centres on Berke Landers, a boy who fell in love with his sweetheart Allison at a young age and is dismayed when she leaves him. When she falls in love with drippy “British” heartthrob Striker, Berke decides to enter the high school play where Allison is perform in order to win her back. Enlisting the help of Kelly, his best friend Felix’s younger sister, Berke finds himself navigating the thespian antics of love.
Why Is It Bad?
It is trying way to hard to be 10 Things I Hate About You. The minute you press play on the insanity that is Get Over It, the thin veil of admiration for the prior film becomes a blatant rip off. It assumes, naturally, that American High School is a fourth wall breaking mad house of violence and sexual debauchery and nearly everyone who is educated there is stunningly talented and beautiful. It showcases how to over saturate these type of movies with fantastical dreamlike sequences, routines and craziness that feels more fake than ever. Plus Shane West’s British accent as appalling and I’d like to think of it as the reason he disappeared into almost obscurity.
Why Is It Good?
Ok, so it might be a blatant rip-off of teen movies before, even scooping up Kirsten Dunst fresh from her Bring It On phase, but it is quite enjoyable. The excellent introduction leads to breezy comedy as well as an, albeit, predictable plot line that doesn’t waver from the tonal entertainment. Plus the incredible Colin Hanks, the wonderful Ben Foster and Dunst leads a cast that introduces Mila Kunis. The jokes will make you laugh and Martin Short’s outrageous outrage is compelling now as it was in the early nineties. Not to mention Berke’s sex therapist parents, played greatly by Swoosie Kurtz and Ed Begley Jr, are a hoot.
I remember loving this movie when I first watched it and film that may be because I was teaming with pubescent hormones, I can appreciate it now. It may not have the flare as movies before it but Get Over It still an enjoyable fare that lavishes in its absurdity.