"The To Do List" (2013)

During the late 80's and early 90's, teen comedies were able to do something few other films were capable of. At their best, under directors like John Hughes and Amy Heckerling, they could tell stories about teens that took their characters' concerns and lives seriously, and on top of this they were often really funny. Mixing raunch with swigs of sweetness, these stories could capture the milieu of high school, commenting on it but rarely judging it. The To Do List unsuccessfully tries to ape the conventions of early 90's teen comedies -- it's even set in 1993 -- but it's nowhere near as insightful and only intermittently humorous -- relying heavily on gross out moments that seem in the film almost entirely to get a reaction out of us. While Aubrey Plaza is a likable lead and a solid center for the story, the film feels slapdashed together, borrowing from so many different genre elements that it barely tells a story of its own. The film is refreshingly free of any sexual double standards, letting Plaza's summer of sexual discovery play out as completely natural and normal. However, the point of all this sexual check-listing is unclear. The To Do List has cartoony impulses that continually clash with its occasional attempts at pathos and realism. John Hughes' movies seem almost quaint these days. They're filled with a sincerity and lack of cynicism, qualities largely absent here. The To Do List feels like a teen movie trying to be an expected teen movie, and being all the qualities that give the genre a bad name.

Grade: ★★