Class Rank (2017)

I went into this movie without high expectations and got a nice 100 minutes of entertainment, enough that I went back for seconds and watched it again.A reviewer described the two leads in this as quirky to which I have to say I totally agree, although the boy is the more quirky of the two. For most of the movie I really liked the girl, then didn't like her, then liked her again. The boy was always likeable from start to finish and he reminded me very much of Napolean Dynamite.Bruce Dern and Kathleen Chalfant's characters for me were the hit, they stole all the scenes they were in. Bruce Dern still has it, as if he ever lost it, he had my laughing on more than one occasion. I loved his comment about Lithuania near the end of the movie.Eric Stoltz did a pretty good job directing this movie and I did not even recognise him in the movie first time round.A movie I would definitely recommend if you like rom coms.

Veronica Krauss (Olivia Holt) is an uptight, overachieving high school student who lives with her divorced mom Janet (Kristin Chenoweth) in Livingston, New Jersey. She is horrified to be ranked second in her class with her chances at Yale diminishing. She appeals to the school board to abandon class ranking and is rejected. Her final option is to get the equally awkward classmate Bernard Flannigan (Skyler Gisondo) elected to the school board. Bernard has been going to the board meetings since his late grandmother sat as a member. He's an orphan living with his grandfather Oswald Flannigan (Bruce Dern).The plot is a familiar high school outsider rom-com. Both characters are dorky overachieving loners. Skyler fits the role well but Olivia cannot help her pageant beauty looks. She can't escape the cheerleader trope. They fail to even darken and grease up her hair or simply put on a pair of bottle rim glasses. It's telling that she asks, "Who's the prettiest in class?" The question is tinged with a sense of vanity. It would be more poignant if she asks, "Am I pretty?" but that's a given for her. Anybody with eyes can see that she's pretty. Honestly, the boys would have asked her out over the years at school. This is a troubling oversight by actor turned director Eric Stoltz. He's seen enough to know the high school tropes. It's not like this is trying to break out of the genre. Maybe she could be compared to Tracy Flick in Election but Tracy would never ask if she's pretty. They should either pick another actress or deal with her beauty in the script. I do like calling them Virgin-ica and Barf-nard. There is some fun and some charm to the kids. That helps to give this movie some appeal but this is no classic.

I was really impressed by this movie. I wasn't expecting much from it when I decided to check it out but was quickly charmed. I was hoping there was a romance between the two leads but couldn't tell for sure from what I had read about it beforehand. (I had been planning to turn it off if it didn't turn out to be a romance.) For those of you who are curious: yes, they do get together. I would call it a romantic comedy (there's the formula fight towards the end) and it's definitely not a typical teen movie even though it takes place in high school. It was very focused and didn't waste a lot of time on filler to pad out the timing, which I appreciated. And the two main characters were very likable and quirky. It was kind of interesting, genre-wise. It had the colorful, upbeat feel of, say, a Disney channel move, but definitely was in more of a PG/PG-13 range. The description says that the actions of the main characters inspire those around them, and it actually was kind of inspiring. I would watch it again, which is one of the most important things I could say about it. If you've read any of my past reviews, you'll see I mainly like to speak up for movies that have good romances in dubious or obscure packaging or movies with low IMDB scores that I loved. (Or sometimes just when I have the chance to be the first one to review.) But I can honestly say this is one of my favorite movies that I've taken the time to review on here. I was going to just watch a little of it and then take a nap and ended up finishing the whole thing.

This is a sweet little movie, a nice high school romance. Because it deals with a high schooler and elections, it begs comparison to 'Election', but unlike that movie, this one is neither cynical nor condescending to its characters. Because it's a high school romance, some compare it to the movies of John Hughes, but this one is not as artificial and self-important as those movies. The acting is solid. The lead boy takes a little getting used to, with an awkward physicality and somewhat stilted speech; but it fits the character and grows on you. The girl is quite good, and looks like a young Diane Lane. There are supporting performances from veterans like Bruce Dern and Kristin Chenowith. There is even a cameo by the director, Eric Stoltz, who started off in teen romances himself once upon a time.The movie is getting virtually no release here in the heartland. It deserves better, but even if you don't get a chance to see it in a theater, catch it on DVD.