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He's All That

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He's All That
Official release poster
Directed byMark Waters
Written byR. Lee Fleming Jr.
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyJohn Guleserian
Edited byTravis Sittard
Music byRolfe Kent
Production
companies
Distributed byNetflix
Release dates
  • August 25, 2021 (2021-08-25) (Hollywood)
  • August 27, 2021 (2021-08-27) (United States)
Running time
91 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$20 million[1]

He's All That is a 2021 American teen romantic comedy film directed by Mark Waters, from a screenplay by R. Lee Fleming Jr. The film is a gender-swapped remake of the 1999 film She's All That, which was a modern adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's 1914 play Pygmalion and George Cukor's 1964 film My Fair Lady. It stars Addison Rae in her film debut role, Tanner Buchanan and Madison Pettis, along with Rachael Leigh Cook and Peyton Meyer.

Talks for a remake of She's All That began in September 2020, with Waters to direct, Fleming Jr. set to return as the film's screenwriter, and Rae to star. Principal photography began in December 2020 in Los Angeles, California.

He's All That had its world premiere at the NeueHouse in Hollywood, California on August 25, 2021,[2] before debuting on Netflix on August 27, 2021. The film received generally negative reviews.

Plot

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Padgett Sawyer is a TikTok influencer in her final year of high school who lives with her divorced mother, a local nurse. She pretends to live in an upscale condo to hide her real living conditions from her followers and sponsors, fearing they wouldn't like her.

One day, Padgett discovers that her boyfriend, influencer and aspiring hip-hop artist Jordan Van Draanen, is cheating on her with a backup dancer. She finds herself humiliated when a live stream of her outburst results in losing followers and sponsorship deals because the camera was still on when it happened. To redeem herself, Padgett accepts a bet to turn Cameron Kweller, an antisocial photography student and the school's least popular young man, into prom king. Despite his indifference towards her, Padgett continues with the bet. She gains information about him from his younger sister, Brin, and to get closer to him, she begins taking horse riding lessons with him.

Over time, while keeping her word on the bet, Padgett begins to bond more with Cameron and discovers that he and his younger sister lost their mother years ago in a plane crash and live with their grandmother while their father resides in Sweden. Padgett fixes Cameron's appearance and attire and tries to expand his social interactions at her friend Quinn's party, where he saves her from humiliation when Jordan appears with the backup dancer. At Padgett's friend Alden's Great Gatsby-themed birthday party, Cameron fights with Jordan when he tries to get sexual with Brin. His mother's camera is ruined in the process, causing him to leave the party in a rage despite Padgett's attempts to console him. She regrets following through with the bet but does not back down because otherwise, she would have to show the whole school and her social media her authentic self.

The next day, Alden turns on Padgett, revealing her plot to become prom queen alongside Jordan and her true colors. She is also responsible for intentionally live-streaming Padgett's outburst. Padgett begins to fall for Cameron, but she is afraid to express her feelings after she kisses him. When Brin finds out that Padgett kissed Cameron, she suggests he ask her to prom. To ensure Padgett's loss, Alden exposes her bet with Padgett to Cameron, who now believes that she only feigned interest because of the bet. On the prom day, Padgett's mother encourages her to go still, telling her to go as herself and not as a social influencer. Cameron refuses to go to prom. Realizing that her older brother has been smiling for the first time since their mother's death when Padgett came into his life, Brin persuades him to go. He doesn't show up, and Padgett declines her role as Prom Queen. To Alden's surprise, Principal Bosch names Celeste the Prom Queen. Padgett finds Cameron outside the school on a horse and kisses him after apologizing.

Padgett gains her fan following back and takes her social media influencing in a new direction by traveling to various destinations across the world alongside her devoted boyfriend Cameron.[3]

Cast

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  • Addison Rae as Padgett Sawyer, a social media influencer who is hiding the fact that she is poor from her affluent high school
  • Tanner Buchanan as Cameron Kweller, an anti-social rebel who likes to take photographs
  • Madison Pettis as Alden Pierce, Padgett's affluent and social status-aware best friend, later rival
  • Rachael Leigh Cook as Anna Sawyer, Padgett's mother who works as a nurse. Cook returns from She's All That, in a different role, having originally played Laney Boggs.
  • Peyton Meyer as Jordan Van Draanen, Padgett's ex-boyfriend who is a hip-hop artist and also a social media influencer
  • Matthew Lillard as Principal Bosch,[4] the school's principal. Lillard returns from She's All That, in a different role, having originally played Brock Hudson.
  • Isabella Crovetti as Brin Kweller, Cameron's popularity-seeking younger sister
  • Myra Molloy as Quinn, Padgett's other best friend who is more supportive of her than Alden is. She and Nisha go to prom together.
  • Annie Jacob as Nisha, Cameron's best and only friend
  • Kourtney Kardashian as Jessica Miles Torres,[5] a woman who sponsors Padgett on social media
  • Vanessa Dubasso as Aniston, a dancer that Jordan becomes involved with
  • Heather Ann Gottlieb as Celeste, a gothic rebel who despises the high school experience even more than Cameron does
  • Romel De Silva as Sebastian Woo, a student who excels in science
  • Andrew Matarazzo as Logan, Jordan's friend
  • Dominic Goodman as Track, Jordan's friend
  • Jill Basey as Grandma, Cameron and Brin's grandmother who has taken them in to live with her
  • Evan Fields as Jamal, the prom's DJ

Production

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In September 2020, a gender swapped remake of She's All That was announced by Miramax titled He's All That, with Mark Waters to direct, original screenwriter R. Lee Fleming Jr. to write, and Addison Rae to star.[6][7] Tanner Buchanan had also been cast, along with Myra Molloy, Madison Pettis, Peyton Meyer, Isabella Crovetti, and Annie Jacob.[8][9]

In December 2020, Rachael Leigh Cook joined the cast to portray Rae's character's mother. It was confirmed Cook's character is not related to her original character. Andrew Matarazzo, Vanessa Dubasso, Brian Torres, Romel De Silva, Dominic Goodman, Ryan Hollis, and Tiffany Simon also joined the production.[10]

Filming took place at Union Station, Los Angeles, in December 2020. The city was criticized for its decision to close a COVID-19 testing site to accommodate the filmmakers. The decision was reversed and the testing site was able to continue working while the filming took place.[11][12][13] In August 2021, the song "Kiss Me" was covered by Cyn for the film's soundtrack.[14]

Soundtrack

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List of songs featured in 'He's All That'[15]

Title Performer(s)
Carried Away Surf Mesa, Madison Beer
Electric Katy Perry
Go Bad Blu DeTiger
Better Without You TCTS, Glowie, Saffron Stone
Chain My Heart Topic, Bebe Rexha
Stop Talkin Valentino Khan, ALMA
ily (i love you baby) Surf Mesa, Eileen
Jalebi Baby Tesher
Easy Troye Sivan, Kacey Musgraves, Mark Ronson
Your Love ATB, Topic, A7S
Losing It Fisher
Kiss Me Cyn
Mean Streets Of Pali Kaz Gamble, Doug Ray

Release

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He's All That had its world premiere at the NeueHouse in Hollywood, California on August 25, 2021,[2] before it was released on August 27, 2021, by Netflix.[16] According to Netflix, it was the number one film on their service that week.[17]

Reception

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On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 28% based on reviews from 60 critics, with an average rating of 4/10. The website's critics consensus read, "Hobbled by a lack of chemistry between its stars, He's All That comes up short on numerous opportunities to improve upon its gender-swapped source material."[18] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 36 out of 100 based on reviews from 22 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[19]

Courtney Howard of Variety said "He's All That makes some smart alterations to the original despite mimeographing the structure, and strikes a benevolent balance between old and new with a light sprinkling of references. However, there are many more maddeningly underwhelming elements."[20] ABC News' Peter Travers gave a negative review, saying "manufactured for the Kissing Booth crowd, this gender-swapped, TikTok-friendly update of the 1999 teen hit sounds awful and it often is, but enough charm pokes through the cracks to sucker anyone who ever fell for a makeover fable."[21] Robyn Bahr of The Hollywood Reporter wrote: "He's All That may be a flattened reflection of its predecessor, but both films are charming enough to get away with about one anal sex innuendo joke apiece" and that the film "is really no worse than the first film."[22]

Nell Minow, writing for RogerEbert.com, was more positive in her review of the film, giving it a score of 3 out of 4 stars. She wrote: "sweet little end of summer sorbet with appealing young performers and a script that refreshes the original without overdoing it."[23] Michael Ordoña of the Los Angeles Times gave a mostly positive review by stating "You'll be pleased to discover the entertaining remake has its charms; it actually is all that, for the most part."[24]

References

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  1. ^ Bolling, Gaiu (March 19, 2021). "She's All That remake is headed to Netflix in a reported $20 million deal". JoBlo.com. Retrieved August 28, 2021.
  2. ^ a b Malkin, Marc (August 26, 2021). "TikTok Star Addison Rae Has Been Emailing With Anna Wintour". Variety. Retrieved August 27, 2021.
  3. ^ N'Duka, Amanda (December 14, 2020). "Rachael Leigh Cook Joins 'He's All That' Remake". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved March 6, 2021.
  4. ^ Anderton, Ethan (August 5, 2021). "'He's All That' Trailer: Imagine An Algorithm Trying To Disguise Itself As A High School Rom-Com". /Film. Retrieved August 27, 2021.
  5. ^ Shafer, Ellise (December 9, 2020). "Kourtney Kardashian to Cameo in 'She's All That' Remake Starring Addison Rae". Variety. Retrieved May 17, 2021.
  6. ^ Rubin, Rebecca (September 11, 2020). "TikTok Star Addison Rae Cast in 'She's All That' Remake". Variety. Retrieved March 6, 2021.
  7. ^ N'Duka, Amanda (September 11, 2020). "TikTok Influencer Addison Rae To Star In 'She's All That' Reboot 'He's All That'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved March 6, 2021.
  8. ^ N'Duka, Amanda (October 2, 2020). "'Cobra Kai' Star Tanner Buchanan Joins Addison Rae In 'He's All That' Remake". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved March 6, 2021.
  9. ^ N'Duka, Amanda (October 28, 2020). "'He's All That' Remake: Madison Pettis, 'American Housewife' Actor Peyton Meyer & Others Join Miramax Pic". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved March 6, 2021.
  10. ^ Shafer, Ellise (December 14, 2020). "Rachael Leigh Cook Joins Cast of Miramax's 'She's All That' Remake". Variety. Retrieved March 6, 2021.
  11. ^ Vigdor, Neil; Opam, Kwame (December 1, 2020). "Los Angeles Reverses Decision to Close Virus Testing Site for a Film Shoot". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 1, 2020. Retrieved May 16, 2021.
  12. ^ Romano, Nick (December 1, 2020). "COVID testing site to remain open following snag with 'She's All That' remake". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved May 16, 2021.
  13. ^ Juneau, Jen (December 11, 2020). "'Gang's All Here!' He's All That Cast Share First Group Photo and Glimpses from Behind the Scenes". People.com. Retrieved May 16, 2021.
  14. ^ Mamo, Heran (August 4, 2021). "Cyn Covers Sixpence None the Richer's 'Kiss Me' for 'He's All That' Soundtrack: Listen". Billboard. Retrieved August 5, 2021.
  15. ^ "He's All That (Music From The Netflix Film)". Spotify.com. August 27, 2021.
  16. ^ Ridgely, Charlie (July 21, 2021). "Netflix: Every Movie and TV Show Arriving in August 2021". ComicBook.com. Retrieved July 21, 2021.
  17. ^ "This '90s Remake Is The Top Movie On Netflix Right Now". HuffPost. August 30, 2021.
  18. ^ "He's All That". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved February 2, 2022.
  19. ^ "He's All That". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved February 2, 2022.
  20. ^ Howard, Courtney (August 27, 2021). "'He's All That' Review: Gender-Swapped Rom-Com Remake Rankles Rather Than Reinvents". Variety. Retrieved August 30, 2021.
  21. ^ Travers, Peter (August 27, 2021). "Review: 'He's All That' is a fit for the TickTock generation". ABC News. Retrieved August 30, 2021.
  22. ^ Bahr, Robyn (August 27, 2021). "'He's All That': Film Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved August 30, 2021.
  23. ^ Minow, Nell (August 27, 2021). "He's All That movie review". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved August 30, 2021.
  24. ^ Ordoña, Michael (August 27, 2021). "Review: 'He's All That,' more or less — remake of teen makeover romcom makes good". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 30, 2021.
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