FBMR - The New Guy
Film-Buff Movie Reviews


THE NEW GUY (2002) ***

This movie was a little different than your regular teen flick. It was more of a fantasy, without the sci-fi elements. Can the geek-of-all-geeks go from bottom-of-the-barrel to cool guy simply by changing schools and a make-over? Highly unlikely, but this movie suggests it is possible, and the process is quite funny. Sure, it’s dumb humour most of the time, but brain-candy never hurt anyone.

Dizzy (DJ Qualls) gets himself expelled so he can transfer to another high school and start over without being labeled simply a “blip” on the radar. With advice from a prison inmate (Eddie Griffin) about establishing Alpha-male status, and a new make-over, Dizzy becomes “Gil” and pulls up to school in an armoured prison truck. His struggle to be and attempts at being cool and tough don’t come as easy as he’d hoped, but they do eventually. Now faced with his growing popularity and lots of welcome attention from the head cheerleader (Eliza Dushku), will he epitomize the actions of all the other cool kids and forget his still-blip friends from his old school?

There are more holes in the plot and in logic in this film than a pasta strainer. How can he waltz in and out of prison so easily whenever he wants? What happened to the motorcycle after the second crash? How could everyone in the school make such a 180 in attitude? I guess it goes along with the fantasy element I mentioned earlier. And I was laughing too hard at some of the gags to really mind.

Keep your eyes peeled for notable figures in rock and rap like Gene Simmons, Tommy Lee, Henry Rollins, Vanilla Ice, Kool Moe Dee. And cameos by Tony Hawk and the O’Connell brothers, Charlie and Jerry.