The New Guy (2002)

A high school senior branded uncool in the ninth grade gets himself expelled so he changes his image to cool kid at the town's other high school.

Director:

Ed Decter

Writer:

David Kendall

Stars:

DJ Qualls, Lyle Lovett, Eliza Dushku

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
DJ Qualls	...	Dizzy
Eliza Dushku	...	Danielle
Zooey Deschanel	...	Nora
Jerod Mixon	...	Kirk
Parry Shen	...	Glen
Lyle Lovett	...	Bear
Eddie Griffin	...	Luther
Sunny Mabrey	...	Courtney
Ross Patterson	...	Conner
Matt Gogin	...	Ed Ligget
Horatio Sanz	...	Dance Instructor
Tony Hawk	...	Himself
Geoffrey Lewis	...	Principal Zaylor
Charlie O'Connell	...	Charlie
Gene Simmons	...	Reverend

Storyline

Dizzy Harrison is an unpopular, high school geek going through a hellish senior year. In an attempt to make a new identity for himself, Dizzy gets himself expelled from his high school, learns the technics of being cool from a prison inmate, and enrolls at a new high school under the alias Gil Harris, to make new friends where he soon gains respect from the jocks and geeks alike. Dizzy then gets noticed by the head cheerleader, Danielle, and helps the school football team gain self-respect to win games. But things unknowingly begin to turn sour when Danielle's disgruntled boyfriend begins investigating into "Gil Harris'" past to uncover any dirt on him.

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Plot Keywords:

mini skirt | teenage boy | teenage girl | attempted escape | high school | 

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Taglines:

A zero will rise

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Genres:

Comedy

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for sexual content, language, crude humor and mild drug references

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 May 2002 (USA)

Also Known As:

Le nouveau

Filming Locations:

11200 Lakeline Mall Dr, Cedar Park, Texas, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$13,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$9,007,833, 12 May 2002, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$28,972,187, 30 June 2002

Company Credits

Production Co:

Revolution Studios, Bedlam Pictures, Frontier Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min 92 min (director's cut)

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

During his cameo, Vanilla Ice is wearing an Insane Clown Posse T-shirt and a promotional badge for his 1998 nu-metal album "Hard To Swallow".

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Goofs

During Gil's speech in front of the flag, the Highlanders' number 19 is a black male, but during the game, you can see the skin between his pads and his helmet is white.

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Quotes

Dizzy: The point is, today nobody stuffed me in my locker or singed off my ass hair.

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Crazy Credits

During the credits, there are bloopers. After that, Dizzy and Danielle ride on into the sunset and Danielle falls off the horse.

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Connections

References Urban Cowboy (1980)

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Soundtracks

Love Machine
Written by Warren Moore and William Griffin
Performed by Suburban Funk
(DJ Qualls,Jerod Mixon,Parry Shen, and Zooey Deschanel)

User Reviews

Crazy Eyes!

So back when I was in high school The New Guy was released and my best friend and I saw it together, all I could say was that I wanted to pull a Dizzy, re-vamp my whole act for the school, we can all dream, right? But anyways onto the movie, The New Guy is actually a really funny high school comedy that is sure to deliver a few good laughs. I think the reason why is because of the cast, it looked like they just had a blast making this movie and made it completely entertaining. While it's definitely not the best acted or stands out against all other high school comedies, this formula worked and DJ Qualls truly made the movie into something special. He and Eddie Griffin were great for The New Guy, a new twist on the typical high school tale of freaks, geeks and beautiful people.

Prison inmate, Luther tells us the story of Dizzy Gillespie Harrison, a 18-year-old high school senior and nerd. Dizzy is friends with Nora, Kirk and Glen, and attends Rocky Creek High School, where he is picked on by star football player Barclay. This occurs before and after Tina Osgood causes him to have an erection, which the school librarian accidentally breaks. Dizzy is misdiagnosed with Tourette syndrome; he is then illegally placed on medication by the school counselor. While at the mall's food court, Dizzy makes a fool of himself and gets arrested. In prison, Dizzy meets Luther, who turns out to be a sympathetic ex-victim who makes it his goal to teach him how to be cool. In an attempt to wipe the slate clean, Dizzy gets himself expelled from his old high school, then undergoes a makeover with the help of the prison inmates. Changing his name to 'Gil Harris', he enrolls at East Highland High and makes an impression by being dropped off in a prison van and beating up the school bully, Connor. The action has an intended effect, and head cheerleader, Danielle, welcomes the newcomer to school. Everything goes to plan, he's cool, popular, and everyone looks up to him… little does the school know what Diz actually was at one point.

I really did enjoy The New Guy, I still love watching it today. There are a lot of great bits, but I think what my friend and I always have a great time watching is when the prisoners are teaching Dizzy how to be tough, especially when Luther teaches Diz "the crazy eyes". This movie has a lot of memorable moments in it, I don't know if it's enough though for The New Guy to stand out as a classic high school comedy. But I do recommend it if you get the chance, it has a great soundtrack, a cool story and fun characters. Diz definitely made Madonna run for her money with his new re-invention of himself.

7/10