Starring Kirsten Dunst, Ben Foster and Sisqo
In the world of pop, his “Thong Song” found a niche in a music industry yearning for songs about swimwear. But beside the subject matter and the catchy hooks, the song bleeds into the others sharing the charts.
But for he-who-violates-the-English-language-by-dropping-the-”u”-in-his-name, there came an opportunity to branch out into another arena devoid of many innovations.
In “Get Over It” (Miramax, PG-13), the fair-haired singer tries his acting chops in the teen comedy genre. And although the movie breaks no new ground, the catchy hooks and familiar subject matter provide thorough pop entertainment.
Given the propensity for cliches and recurring themes, this movie falls into review rule No. 72: When in doubt, hit the checklist, baby! A point-by-point examination shows “Get Over It” passes with a solid 80 percent on the “5 Things I Hate/Love About Teen Comedies” scale:
1) Romantic value: Nothing makes a plot run quicker with emotion and dialogue than an old-fashioned bizarre love triangle. In this case, very old-fashioned because the stars are set against the backdrop of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” high school performance.
Berke (Ben Foster) loves his sweetheart Allison (Melissa Sagemiller), but she dumps him for greener pastures. In order to win her heart back, he enlists his best friend’s sister, Kelly (Kirsten Dunst), to help with his Shakespearian dialogue.
From there, things are as gravy as any high school romance could be.
2) Male and female leads: Although the plot’s been done before, Dunst and Foster show they are very competent in having fun with their roles. Foster owns a very unique and very high school speaking style, with a minimum amount of mouth movement. Dunst, on the other hand, adds the prerequisite sex appeal while oozing the look that sets off crush radars everywhere.
3) Choreographed dance: To have a teen comedy without a dance sequence would be like NIU without McDonald’s: Things would keep surviving, but you can’t imagine how. Luckily, “Get Over It” sets land-speed records for dance sequences, the first appearing three minutes into the film.
And what a scene it is. Vitamin C covers The Captain and Tenille’s “Love Will Keep Us Together,” and it’s as cool as it sounds. Even agile construction workers and the high school band get involved in the mayhem, always a good sign.
4) The jerk: To offset the joy of the dancing, a jerk must rear his ugly head, with heelish tendencies aplenty. No, Sisqo doesn’t try to horn in on the triangle; he plays a bumbling friend who can dance if given the chance.
Instead, we get Striker (Shane West) who owns that obnoxious, Madonna-like quality where you really believe his British accent is fake. Adding to the dastardly mix is that subtle detail that he now goes out with Allison, and serenaded her with “Alison” by Elvis Costello. The gall!
5) Gags: And here’s where the movie’s luck runs out. With all the chess pieces in place, “Get Over It” only needed the physical and verbal comedy to come through for the checkmate. Instead, we get tired, gross scenes involving vomit in the punch bowl that make you scream, “C’mon!”
This last checkpoint almost is saved by Martin Short playing the delusional and outlandish musical author and director Desmond Forrest Oats. Almost. While Short steals scenes, he can’t help everything outside the thespian spectrum.
Foster and Dunst have performed in quality movies before (“Liberty Heights” and “The Virgin Suicides,” respectively) and will go on to do more quality work in the future. Whether they acknowledge a movie co-starred by Sisqo or not will be up to them, but it's nothing to be ashamed of.
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