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Sadly, 'New Guy' has only old jokes to offer
DJ Qualls and Eddie Griffin star in 'The New Guy'
Van Redin, Columbia/Tristar
Michael Machosky can be reached via e-mail or at 412-320-7901.
In a scene that is clearly intended for uproarious laughs, the school librarian grabs Dizzy's crotch in front of the entire school, thinking he has a weapon. Every post-"American Pie" teensploitation flick seems as though it's required to have one big nauseating gag that gets everybody talking, but this one is so awkwardly shot that it requires the next scene at the nurse's office just to explain what happened.
Dizzy ends up in jail, which turns out to be his salvation. A lifer inmate, Luther (Eddie Griffin), teaches him how to be a tough guy, and intimidate people by twitching and bugging out his eyes.
When Dizzy gets out of jail, he is determined to get expelled (which, for some reason, is much harder than going to jail), and start over with his new hard-boiled demeanor at a new school. He successfully infiltrates the hierarchy of mean, cool people, and even gets the girl. His past as a nerd, however, comes back to haunt him.
In "The New Guy," director Ed Decter shows none of the unexpected goofy transcendence of "There's Something About Mary," which he co-wrote. Instead, the gags are predictable and lazy beyond belief.
For example, "The New Guy" has more B-list celebrities than an East Hollywood rehab center, and they seem to be blasted like buckshot at the screen whenever the laughs start to stall. Decrepit ex-rocker Tommy Lee, one-hit wonder rapper Vanilla Ice and even "Baywatch's" David Hasselhoff all make appearances, mostly for the cheap laughs implicit in seeing them outside their natural habitats.
There are, of course, the obligatory sermons at the end about not stepping on your real friends on the way up the high school social ladder. But when placed next to the sheer comic mileage that "The New Guy" gets from things such as beating up a midget (who appears several times for this purpose), and sucker-punching the school bully, the movie's half-hearted claim to a moral center seems like just another lame joke.
| 'The New Guy' |
Director: Ed Decter
Stars: DJ Qualls, Eddie Griffin, Eliza Dushku
MPAA Rating: PG-13, for sexual content, language, crude humor and mild drug references
