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The DUFF proudly hits all of the conventions of the high-school comedy: It opens with our narrator, Bianca (a spectacular Mae Whitman, best known as Arrested Development’s Ann “Her?” Veal), outlining the social structure of her school. Things have changed, she says. We have entered “a Brave New World, without labels”. However, there’s still a resident Mean Girl: the school villain Madison (Bella Thorne), who describes herself as an aspiring reality TV star. We meet Bianca’s #FutureBabyDaddy, Toby Tucker (a dreamy, long-haired, singer-songwriter, played by Nick Eversman), her beefcake neighbour and childhood friend, Wesley (Robbie Ammell), and her conventionally attractive best friends, Jess and Casey. In the film’s best scenes, Allison Janney appears as the ultimate teen movie mom, a motivational speaker exploring the world of online dating following her divorce from Bianca’s father.
Bianca, an honour roll student and cult film fan, is, as Wesley casually informs her, the DUFF of her friend group — the Designated Ugly Fat Friend. The DUFF doesn’t actually have to be ugly or fat, but does need to be less hot than his or her good-looking friends, in order to make them look better by comparison. Bianca is the non-threatening one, used by potential dates to gain access to and information about Jess and Casey. Wesley and Bianca agree to help each other; she will tutor him in chemistry, in exchange for his help in revamping her image. Their attempts to shed the label involve an obligatory shopping montage (featuring Bianca fondling a store mannequin while moaning Toby’s name), a humiliating scene surreptitiously recorded and uploaded to YouTube by one of the Mean Girl’s underlings.
The DUFF tries to take on cyberbullying, but the message is unfortunately overwhelmed by the film’s ceaseless attempts to satirise social media. Although Josh A. Cagan’s script is based on a novel written by a then-17-year-old Kody Keplinger, The DUFF has absolutely no idea how to incorporate modern communication technologies in a way that feels organic. It’s a problem that undisputed classics like Mean Girls, Clueless and The Breakfast Club (films The DUFF desperately wants to join in the High School Movie Hall of Fame) were lucky to avoid, but now that social media has become such a pervasive and defining feature of the high school experience, teen movies can no longer escape it. Filmmakers now have to try to capture something that wasn’t part of their own adolescence, and the attempts to integrate social media frequently come across as clumsy and forced. In one painfully unfunny “de-friending” scene, Bianca “breaks up” with her BFFs by unfollowing them on Twitter and Instagram, in the most furious name-checking of apps in cinema history. Another cumbersome scene takes place in a shopping centre, when a man mistakenly believes Bianca is a YouTube prankster secretly filming him, and demands, “How many hits did it get?!”. Several times throughout the film, a group of high schoolers announce to one another, “Viral? Viral!”, before sharing a video, as if that’s how viral content works. Both the promotional posters and the closing credits feature the Twitter and Instagram handles for each of the cast members.
Mae Whitman is irresistible. Her performance carries the film, and there’s a fantastic energy to her comic timing and delivery that proves that she deserves much better material. By the end, Whitman struggles to sell the film’s conflicting messages, promoting both self-acceptance and hot high school makeovers. Be yourself, but first get a better bra and change how you dress. “It’s not about popularity or even getting the guy,” but getting the guy is pretty crucial according to this film. It would be refreshing to see the heroine end up in her favourite flannel shirt and overalls, telling her womanising neighbour she doesn’t need him or the push-up bra. Unfortunately, we’re not there yet.
