He's All That
2021 film by Mark Waters From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
He's All That is a 2021 American teen romantic comedy film directed by Mark Waters, from a screenplay by R. Lee Fleming Jr. The film is a gender-swapped remake of the 1999 film She's All That, which was a modern adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's 1914 play Pygmalion and George Cukor's 1964 film My Fair Lady. It stars Addison Rae in her film debut role, Tanner Buchanan and Madison Pettis, along with Rachael Leigh Cook and Peyton Meyer.
| He's All That | |
|---|---|
 Official release poster | |
| Directed by | Mark Waters |
| Written by | R. Lee Fleming Jr. |
| Produced by |
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| Starring | |
| Cinematography | John Guleserian |
| Edited by | Travis Sittard |
| Music by | Rolfe Kent |
Production companies |
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| Distributed by | Netflix |
Release dates |
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Running time | 91 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $20 million[1] |
Talks for a remake of She's All That began in September 2020, with Waters to direct, Fleming Jr. set to return as the film's screenwriter, and Rae to star. Principal photography began in December 2020 in Los Angeles, California.
He's All That had its world premiere at the NeueHouse in Hollywood, California on August 25, 2021,[2] before debuting on Netflix on August 27, 2021. The film received generally negative reviews.
Plot
Summarize
Perspective
Padgett Sawyer is a TikTok influencer in her final year of high school who lives with her divorced mother, a local nurse. She pretends to live in an upscale condo to hide her real living conditions from her followers and sponsors, fearing they wouldn't like her.
One day, Padgett discovers that her boyfriend, influencer and aspiring hip-hop artist Jordan Van Draanen, is cheating on her with a backup dancer. She finds herself humiliated when a live stream of her outburst results in losing followers and sponsorship deals because the camera was still on when it happened. To redeem herself, Padgett accepts a bet to turn Cameron Kweller, an antisocial photography student and the school's least popular young man, into prom king. Despite his indifference towards her, Padgett continues with the bet. She gains information about him from his younger sister, Brin, and to get closer to him, she begins taking horse riding lessons with him.
Over time, while keeping her word on the bet, Padgett begins to bond more with Cameron and discovers that he and his younger sister lost their mother years ago in a plane crash and live with their grandmother while their father resides in Sweden. Padgett fixes Cameron's appearance and attire and tries to expand his social interactions at her friend Quinn's party, where he saves her from humiliation when Jordan appears with the backup dancer. At Padgett's friend Alden's Great Gatsby-themed birthday party, Cameron fights with Jordan when he tries to get sexual with Brin. His mother's camera is ruined in the process, causing him to leave the party in a rage despite Padgett's attempts to console him. She regrets following through with the bet but does not back down because otherwise, she would have to show the whole school and her social media her authentic self.
The next day, Alden turns on Padgett, revealing her plot to become prom queen alongside Jordan and her true colors. She is also responsible for intentionally live-streaming Padgett's outburst. Padgett begins to fall for Cameron, but she is afraid to express her feelings after she kisses him. When Brin finds out that Padgett kissed Cameron, she suggests he ask her to prom. To ensure Padgett's loss, Alden exposes her bet with Padgett to Cameron, who now believes that she only feigned interest because of the bet. On the prom day, Padgett's mother encourages her to go still, telling her to go as herself and not as a social influencer. Cameron refuses to go to prom. Realizing that her older brother has been smiling for the first time since their mother's death when Padgett came into his life, Brin persuades him to go. He doesn't show up, and Padgett declines her role as Prom Queen. To Alden's surprise, Principal Bosch names Celeste the Prom Queen. Padgett finds Cameron outside the school on a horse and kisses him after apologizing.
Padgett gains her fan following back and takes her social media influencing in a new direction by traveling to various destinations across the world alongside her devoted boyfriend Cameron.[3]
Cast
- Addison Rae as Padgett Sawyer, a social media influencer who is hiding the fact that she is poor from her affluent high school
- Tanner Buchanan as Cameron Kweller, an anti-social rebel who likes to take photographs
- Madison Pettis as Alden Pierce, Padgett's affluent and social status-aware best friend, later rival
- Matthew Lillard as Principal Bosch,[4] the school's principal. Lillard returns from She's All That, in a different role, having originally played Brock Hudson.
- Rachael Leigh Cook as Anna Sawyer, Padgett's mother who works as a nurse. Cook returns from She's All That, in a different role, having originally played Laney Boggs.
- Peyton Meyer as Jordan Van Draanen, Padgett's ex-boyfriend who is a hip-hop artist and also a social media influencer
- Isabella Crovetti as Brin Kweller, Cameron's popularity-seeking younger sister
- Myra Molloy as Quinn, Padgett's other best friend who is more supportive of her than Alden is. She and Nisha go to prom together.
- Annie Jacob as Nisha, Cameron's best and only friend
- Kourtney Kardashian as Jessica Miles Torres,[5] a woman who sponsors Padgett on social media
- Vanessa Dubasso as Aniston, a dancer that Jordan becomes involved with
- Heather Ann Gottlieb as Celeste, a gothic rebel who despises the high school experience even more than Cameron does
- Romel De Silva as Sebastian Woo, a student who excels in science
- Andrew Matarazzo as Logan, Jordan's friend
- Dominic Goodman as Track, Jordan's friend
- Jill Basey as Grandma, Cameron and Brin's grandmother who has taken them in to live with her
- Evan Fields as Jamal, the prom's DJ
Production
In September 2020, a gender-swapped remake of She's All That was announced by Miramax titled He's All That, with Mark Waters to direct, original screenwriter R. Lee Fleming Jr. to write, and Addison Rae to star.[6][7] Tanner Buchanan had also been cast, along with Myra Molloy, Madison Pettis, Peyton Meyer, Isabella Crovetti, and Annie Jacob.[8][9]
In December 2020, Rachael Leigh Cook joined the cast to portray Rae's character's mother. It was confirmed Cook's character is not related to her original character. Andrew Matarazzo, Vanessa Dubasso, Brian Torres, Romel De Silva, Dominic Goodman, Ryan Hollis, and Tiffany Simon also joined the production.[10]
Filming took place at Union Station, Los Angeles, in December 2020. The city was criticized for its decision to close a COVID-19 testing site to accommodate the filmmakers. The decision was reversed and the testing site was able to continue working while the filming took place.[11][12][13] In August 2021, the song "Kiss Me" was covered by Cyn for the film's soundtrack.[14]
Soundtrack
List of songs featured in 'He's All That'[15]
| Title | Performer(s) |
|---|---|
| Carried Away | Surf Mesa, Madison Beer |
| Electric | Katy Perry |
| Go Bad | Blu DeTiger |
| Better Without You | TCTS, Glowie, Saffron Stone |
| Chain My Heart | Topic, Bebe Rexha |
| Stop Talkin | Valentino Khan, ALMA |
| ily (i love you baby) | Surf Mesa, Eileen |
| Jalebi Baby | Tesher |
| Easy | Troye Sivan, Kacey Musgraves, Mark Ronson |
| Your Love | ATB, Topic, A7S |
| Losing It | Fisher |
| Kiss Me | Cyn |
| Mean Streets Of Pali | Kaz Gamble, Doug Ray |
| Dance Off (credits) | Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Idris Elba, Anderson .Paak |
Release
He's All That had its world premiere at the NeueHouse in Hollywood, California on August 25, 2021,[2] before it was released on August 27, 2021, by Netflix.[16] According to Netflix, it was the number one film on their service that week.[17]
Reception
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Perspective
He's All That received largely negative reviews from critics, with many pointing out the lack of chemistry between the leads and its failure to improve upon the gender-swapped source material.
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 28% based on 60 critic reviews, with an average rating of 4/10. The site’s critics consensus reads, "Hobbled by a lack of chemistry between its stars, He's All That comes up short on numerous opportunities to improve upon its gender-swapped source material."[18] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 36 out of 100, based on 22 reviews, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews."[19]
Courtney Howard of Variety acknowledged that while the film makes some smart alterations to the original, it ultimately falls short due to several underwhelming elements.[20] Peter Travers of ABC News criticized the film as "manufactured for the Kissing Booth crowd," noting its TikTok appeal but also acknowledging that it had "enough charm to sucker anyone who ever fell for a makeover fable."[21] Robyn Bahr of The Hollywood Reporter stated that He's All That "may be a flattened reflection of its predecessor," but added that it was "charming enough to get away with." She compared it to the original, concluding that it was "no worse" than its predecessor.[22]
In contrast, Nell Minow of RogerEbert.com gave the film a 3 out of 4 stars, describing it as a "sweet little end of summer sorbet" with "appealing young performers" and a script that refreshed the original without overdoing it.[23] Michael Ordoña of the Los Angeles Times praised the film’s "charms" and called it "entertaining" overall, stating it "actually is all that, for the most part."[24]
Other reviews were more critical of the film. The Guardian described He's All That as a "dull TikTok teen remake" that "lacks charm" and failed to live up to its original. The review noted that it was a missed opportunity to make a more compelling modern update.[25] Paste criticized it as a "nightmarish, joyless commentary on influencer-beholden adolescence" that lacked the spirit of the original.[26]
Meanwhile, Common Sense Media rated the film 2 out of 5 stars, criticizing its reliance on influencer culture and its lack of depth.[27] However, Glamour found some merit in the film, noting that while it follows predictable tropes, it didn’t overly rely on the original material and had appeal for its target audience.[28]
References
External links
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