My Guilty Pleasure in Review: The DUFF

There's something I need to confess to the world, something I've kept secret far too long. I enjoy watching crappy coming of age feel good romance movies. Ok, so they're not all crappy, but one such movie I watched recently made me realize that I didn't have to be ashamed of this guilty pleasure anymore because what matters most is not what other people think of you, but what you think of yourself. And I'm totally fine with this part of me just like I'm fine with admitting that I listen to One Direction like a 12 year old girl and that Taylor Swift is one of my idols (which you should have figured out from this).

Anyway, the movie in questions is called The DUFF (which stands for designated ugly fat friend, just in case you didn't know). To be frank I mostly watched it because Robbie Amell is in it, and like his cousin Stephen, he's not bad on the eyes. That and he plays Ronny Raymond on the Flash so this movie was advertised during one of the episode's commercial breaks.

This is Robbie Amell, just FYI

It's a cute story where the girl gets the guy and all is well in the world. It's not really original. Anyone can see from the start that Bianca and Wes are endgame. Despite supposedly running in different social circles, they're extremely comfortable with each other and the pairing doesn't seem far-fetched at all.

See? Totes adorbs.

Also none of the characters are really well developed. We don't know much about them except a few labels, ironically applied by Bianca herself. But Wesley gains a human feel when his family life is briefly referenced, and we can tell Bianca's relationship with her mom is overshadowed by her mother's self-help career as illustrated by the few times Bianca attempts to illicit useful advice from her mom. Also in a twist of fate, Bianca's friends Jess and Casey, the two girls Bianca supposedly plays a supporting role to, are only in existence to bolster Bianca's character. Oh and don't forget Tony. Who's sole purpose is to act as a red herring for the endgame and a catalyst for Wes' jealousy. And then there's Mr. Arthur, Bianca's wise yet mildly crazy journalism teacher. He's there for comedic relief. That and he's the reason she even thinks about any of this school social hierarchy stuff having assigned her an article about Homecoming. And while their student teacher bond isn't really fleshed out either, we can always have more Ken Jeong in this world so no complaints from me there.

Bianca and her besties Jess and Casey (aka her supporting cast)

All in all it's not much of a standout performance, but the lesson is so important. There's even a small cyber bullying message incorporated when Bianca gets targeted by popular girl Madison through embarrassing videos that "go viral". And modern technology is a theme explored throughout, with the teachers emphasizing the dangers of communicating exclusively through text and emoticons and Bianca "unfriending" the friends who duffed her by removing them from her various social network accounts. Although this little insert never gets fleshed out, kind of like how most of the characters are not fully developed, it's a nice little way to date this movie. One day when our kids watch this film, they'll be like, WTF is a snapchat? At the end of the day, Bianca manages to triumph over technology, with her article about life as a DUFF going viral in the best way and the site hosting the article becomes a place for positive comments and shared experiences, what we hoped social interactions on the Internet would actually be like. But despite the wishful thinking and lack of real development, you can't help but end the movie with a smile on your face. And sometimes, that's all you need: a nice little feel good coming of age romantic comedy to cheer you up and restore some of your faith in humanity.

This is what it looks like to know who you are and own it!