The Perfect Score (2004)

Director:

Brian Robbins

Writers (WGA):

Marc Hyman (story) &
Jon Zack (story) ...

Release Date:

30 January 2004 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime

Tagline:

The S.A.T is hard to take. It's even harder to steal.

Plot:

Six high school seniors decide to break into the Princeton Testing Center so they can steal the answers to their upcoming SAT tests and all get perfect scores.

Plot Keywords:

Test | High School | Exam | Pantyhose | Teen

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Erika Christensen	...	Anna Ross
Chris Evans	...	Kyle
Bryan Greenberg	...	Matty Matthews
Scarlett Johansson	...	Francesca Curtis
Darius Miles	...	Desmond Rhodes
Leonardo Nam	...	Roy
Tyra Ferrell	...	Desmond's Mother
Matthew Lillard	...	Larry
Vanessa Angel	...	Anita Donlee
Bill Mackenzie	...	Lobby Guard
Dan Zukovic	...	Mr. G
Iris Quinn	...	Kyle's Mother
Lorena Gale	...	Proctor
Patricia Idlette	...	Receptionist
Lynda Boyd	...	Anna's Mother

Also Known As:

Voll gepunktet (Germany)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for language, sexual content and some drug references.

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

USA | Germany

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Australia:M | Malaysia:18PL | Brazil:12 (DVD rating) | Iceland:12 | Netherlands:6 | South Korea:15 | Argentina:13 | Finland:K-11 | Germany:6 | Singapore:PG | UK:12A (original rating) | UK:12 (video rating) (2004) | USA:PG-13

Filming Locations:

Chemistry Building, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

It is impossible to actually steal a copy of the SAT's because there are several versions. Everyone who takes it has different questions or the questions are in a different order.

Goofs:

Factual errors: The cheat sheets the kids made only had the letter answers. The SAT uses many different forms with both a different order of questions and a different order of answers. So the cheat sheets would have been useless.

Quotes:

Roy: [looking at a crow in a tree] Caw! Caw! Caw, caw, caaaaaw!
Matty: [to Kyle] You've assembled a crack team, chief.

Movie Connections:

References The Breakfast Club (1985)

Soundtrack:

Burning

Watching "The Perfect Score" is a chore.

Mainstream Hollywood movies hold up a mirror to modern society and reflect our status quo values. Occasionally, a maverick moviemaker challenges those values, and the uproar prompts Congressional scrutiny. In our sophisticated, amoral, heavily-mediated, urban society, the major studios prefer to play it safe, lest lawmakers wave the bloody shirt of censorship. Indeed, Hollywood produces hundreds of mediocre movies as if they were doling out sugar-coated placebos for the masses. Profit-minded producers pursuing a PG-13 rating must promote responsible, ethical behavior. Reward good. Punish evil. Stop smoking. Just say 'No' to drugs. Refrain from cheating. Typically, PG-13 movies earn more money than R-rated epics, so Hollywood toes the line for the profit margin. Not surprisingly, then, the new Brian Robbins' movie "The Perfect Score" (* out of ****), a hopelessly contrived, lightweight, teen-angst, romantic comedy about six high school seniors who decide to steal the SAT Verification Master, doesn't condone cheating so much as concede students cheat.

An ethnically correct cross-section of New Jersey teenagers led by Kyle (Chris Evans of "Not Another Teen Movie") have all taken the SAT and scored far beneath the grade they need to get into the higher institution of their choice. Since assemblying a log cabin from Popsicle sticks in his youth, Kyle has dreamed of studying architecture at Cornell, and he refuses to settle for less. Meanwhile, Kyle's best friend Matty (Bryan Greenberg of "A Civil Action") must retest, too, if he wants to get into Maryland where his girlfriend goes to school. Out of sheer desperation, these two guys hatch an outlandish scheme to break into the ETS testing center in Princeton, New Jersey, grab the answers and never look back! Unfortunately, the shallow-minded screenplay by Mark Schwahn of "Whatever It Takes," Marc Hyman of "Osmosis Jones," and Jon Zack of "Out Cold" relies entirely on too many implausible coincidences, giving "Score" more of a fantasy element than a fraudulent one. (Wonder what ETS has to say about this absurd saga?) Of course, it does help that they live in the same town where the SAT has its headquarters. No sooner have our heroes entered the ETS building than they realize how utterly impractical their objective is. As they survey the lobby of the building, sultry Francesca (Scarlet Johansson of "Lost in Translation"), a high school student whose dad owns the building that houses the SAT offices, strolls in and catches their eye. Francesca isn't exactly happy with life. She has no mother, and her rich father dates younger women to recapture his youth. Bored and rebellious, Francesca decides to help Kyle and Matty. She can acquire the security codes that will enable them to get past the guards and onto the roof where they can slip in through a skylight into the ETS center. Predictably, complications occur. At one point, Kyle has his hands on the answers then tries to copy them, only to learn he has loaded them into a shredding machine and shredded them. Then, three more desperate characters plead to join their ranks,. The second smartest girl in their high school class, Anna (Erika Christensen of "Traffic") who froze up when she took the test; an African-American basketball star, Desmond (Darius Miles in his film debut) who needs the points to get into St. Johns, and a blissfully stoned Asian-American computer geek Roy (Leonardo Nam of "Nobody's Perfect) enlist in this larcenous escapade.

You know a movie is in trouble when its best scene is a rehash of a better movie. Director Brian Robbins, whose directorial credits include "Varsity Blues" and "Hardball," does a picture perfect imitation of the opening scene from "The Matrix" with Francesca playing Trinity. She caroms off walls and kicks butt as good as Carrie Anne Moss. Robbins is no maverick, and "A Perfect Score" does not original with its premise. As action unfolds, our heroes must consider their motives for cheating. Before it's over, they realize honesty is the best policy. Along the way, poor Matty admits his long distance romance has fallen apart, while Francesca cuddles up to him.

Aside from the camaraderie generated during the planning stages of their heist, "A Perfect Score" offers little originality or realism. Moreover, the hypocrisy of this well-intentioned but lame-brained, MTV-produced, SAT-com is how it tempts audiences as well as its own characters with the prospect of actually using those answers. Stealing the ETS answers amounts to the cinematic equivalent of "Ocean's Eleven" with the rush that comes with avoiding detection. The most exhilerating moments occur during the break-in, but "The Perfect Score" strips our heroes of the fruits of their skullduggery. In other words, none take advantage of their ill-gotten gains. Talk anti-climax! Altogether, working "A Perfect Score" is a perfect chore.