Ray Tian / The Hoya
“Not Another Teen Movie,” despite its title, is, well, a teen movie. Most ’90s teen movies put characters into traditional cliques, follow cookie-cutter plot lines and play into common tropes. “Not Another Teen Movie,” released in 2001, does just this — but it acknowledges the fact that it’s following cliches and shamelessly mocks ’80s and ’90s rom-coms, making it a spoof. Yes, the high school jock, Jake Wyler (Chris Evans) makes a bet that he’ll take the nerdy girl, Janey Briggs (Chyler Leigh), to prom and make her the prom queen. But nothing goes exactly as viewers expect it to, and the obvious humor, overly exaggerated characters and absurd plot lines make for a quick moving film that prompts easy laughter.
Obviously, “Not Another Teen Movie” is meant to make you laugh, but its wittiness is precisely what makes it great. For avid watchers of traditional teen rom-coms, the movie is full of easter eggs.
For starters, Janey is somewhat of a play on Kat Stratford, the main character of “10 Things I Hate About You.” She fits into the nerdy, anti-men, angry artist, glasses-wearing female trope. The “10 Things I Hate About You” references don’t stop there — Ricky Lipman (Eric Jungmann), a nerdy guy in love with Janey, stands up in front of their English class to recite a poem, which he calls “10 Things I Love About Janey,” an obvious spin on Stratford’s English poem from the original film. Jake sings a song to Janey while running through the stands of the football field as he tries to gain her admiration, just like Patrick Verona in “10 Things I Hate About You.”
There are also clear references to “The Breakfast Club,” with a detention scene that features the film’s classic song, “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” by Simple Minds. Additionally, the film features references to “Sixteen Candles,” “She’s All That,” “Grease,” “Bring it On,” “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” and many more classic rom-coms and teen comedies. The ending is full of back-to-back intentional references, amplifying the film’s reference-ladled landscape.
Personally, I loved this rom-com easter egg hunt. I loved matching actors in “Not Another Teen Movie” with other actors I knew and laughing at overexaggerations of familiar characters. However, this was possibly my only favorite part of watching the movie. “Not Another Teen Movie” is definitely not highbrow cinema, but the film takes its unsophisticated nature to another level. The humor is pretty vulgar (don’t watch it in a public place), and the plot is a little stupid. Yet, I suppose it’s meant to be that way — ridiculous and utterly absurd. You’re meant to cringe, laugh and even question why you’re watching it. I definitely cringed a bit too hard at points. Many of the jokes felt overly sexual — past the point of humor — or just kind of gross. Maybe spoofs aren’t entirely for me.
On the other hand, though, the overexaggerations of stereotypes in “Not Another Teen Movie” are actually what have allowed it to hold up over time. Many teen rom-coms, like “The Breakfast Club” or “Sixteen Candles” have characters now regarded to be culturally insensitive, due to their portrayal of racist and misogynistic stereotypes. “Not Another Teen Movie” identifies these problematic characters and intentionally plays into them, creating the movie to be a self-aware commentary. For example, Malik Token (Deon Richmond) represents the “token Black guy” character. Early in the film, when asked to hold Jake’s books, he says, “Sure, why not? I am the token Black guy. I’m just supposed to smile and stay out of the conversation and say things like, ‘Damn,’ ‘Shit,’ and ‘That’s whack.’” A little later, further playing into the trope, Malik responds to his friends’ analysis of girls by saying, “Damn! That shit’s whack!” While this is obviously also for comedic relief, it suggests that “Not Another Teen Movie” does, in fact, have a deeper motive.
So, do we gravitate towards spoofs like “Not Another Teen Movie” because we like the references to the source material? Or is it for easy laughs? Or maybe, as we appreciate their absolute absurdity, do we use spoofs as a means of escapism from traditional cinema and the world around us? Either way, you’ll certainly find one of the three satisfied with “Not Another Teen Movie.”