Assassination of a High School President: The Straight2DVD Review

Assassination of a High School President is what would happen if John Hughes directed Brick. The novelty of combining high school agnst with film noir swagger pioneered by Brick might make it seem as if any attempt to repeat that combination could only resort in a rip-off. But Assassination manages to break new ground by tweaking the formula to include a far more satirical sense of humor and a far less polished hero.

Bobby Funke (Reece Thompson, late of the go-see-it-now awesomeness that is Rocket Science) is a high school sophomore trying to take his first step towards becoming the next Woodward and/or Bernstein via a hot story in the school newspaper.  When he’s handed a puff piece profile of the class president for his trouble, those dreams appear to vanish until he stumbles on what appears to be a school scandal implicating the president in the theft of recently completed SAT’s.  What unfurls is a class A noir replete with shady characters, intricate conspiracies, and a femme fatale (Mischa Barton).

Where Brick plays its high school/noir mash-up fairly straight, laced with Hammett-esque stylized dialogue, Assassination injects a bit more of the teenage awkwardness that also comes with high school.  The dialogue is just as stylized, but it does not fall trippingly off the tongue, at least not that of its protagonist.  As a result, Assassination plays more as straight-up comedy, with just as much bite as a solid Veronica Mars ep thanks to a witty script by Tim Calpin and Kevin Jakubowski brought to life by the energized direction of Brett Simon and strong performances all around, especially by Thompson and Barton.

The only weak-ish link is Bruce Willis, who plays the school principal, a variation on Principal Skinner’s war vet shtick.  While Willis is usually quite adept at comedy, his style here is too broad to mesh with the other characters’ tone. 

Whether or not you’ve seen Brick, Assassination is well worth your time, though I’d say make a double feature of it, if only to see how two creative filmmakers can take what it essentially the same pitch and make equally compelling in different ways.

Oh, and the soundtrack kicks ass.

The Charts: Whole Lotta Freeman

Top 10 Straight-to-DVD Rentals for Week Ending 11/1/09

(source Video Business)

1. The Maiden Heist
2. Wrong Turn 3: Left for Dead
3. Trick ‘r Treat
4. Lies & Illusions
5. Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure
6. 2012: Supernova
7. Stan Helsing
8. Assassination of a High School President
9. The Hills Run Red
10. The Code

Morgan Freeman bookending this week’s rental chart. The Miaden Heist, also starring William H. Macy and Christopher Walken, taking the top spot and perennial charter The Code bringing up the rear.

Tinker Bell debuting a bit lower, right in the middle of the charts (don’t worry, it’s a much brighter picture on the sales charts, you don’t need to clap or anything).

Can’t imagine why a movie named 2012 would be popular right now. And yes, that would be The Asylum‘s take on Roland Emmerich.

Horror comedy Stan Helsing debuting right behind it, though I have to question its straight-to-DVD credentials as I’m pretty sure it had a limited theatrical release.

Click on any of the above titles to buy or pre-order.

The Charts: Three Wrongs Make a Right

Top Straight-to-DVD Rentals for Week Ending 10/25/09

(source Video Business)

1. Wrong Turn 3: Left for Dead
2. Trick ‘r Treat
3. Lies & Illusions
4. Assassination of a High School President
5. The Code
6. The Haunted Airman
7. Bring it On: Fight to the Finish
8. It’s Alive
9. Dark Country

Wrong Turn 3 debuting at number one to no one’s surprise, as it’s one of the most hotly anticipated horror titles of the year.  The other most anticipated horror title slips to number two.  The other debut, The Haunted Airman, gets some juice from its star, Robert Pattinson, who was still an unknown when he filmed this straight-to-British-TV-movie finally getting its US release.  We’ll see if Pattinson’s other pre-Twilight release, How to Be,will make similar inroads when it launches later this month.

Click on any of the above titles to buy.

The Charts: A Treat for Trick

Top 10 Straight-to-DVD Rentals for Week Ending 10/11/09

(source Video Business)

1. Trick ‘r Treat
2. Lies & Illusions
3. Assassination of a High School President
4. It’s Alive
5. Dark Country
6. The Hills Run Red
7. The Code
8. Bring it On: Fight to the Finish
9. Blood & Bone
10. The Thaw

Trick ‘r Treat debuting strong at number one, vindicating the anitcipation and praise that has followed it on the long road to release.  Assassination also making an impressive bow, ending an almost-as-endless stay in distribution purgatory.  Right behind it is a remake of It’s Alive.  So, yeah, that happened.  And lest you think that our beloved Kilmer had disappeaerd completely from the charts, he’s in at number 10 with Arctic chiller (see what I did there?) The Thaw.

Click on any of the above titles to buy.

Assassination of a High School President Review: Best of Sundance ’08

A year and a half ago, Assassination of a High School President premiered at Sundance to rave reviews, including this one from Screen Rant’s Neil Miller, who called it his fave of the fest.  The art house future looked bright for this gem until it became another victim of the Yari bankruptcy.  Now the dark comedy, starring Reece Thompson, Mischa Barton, Melonie Diaz, Michael Rappaport, and Bruce Willis will go straight to DVD on October 6th.  You can pre-order it here.