By Emily Burich and Olivia Pocat
SPOILERS
In late 2019, TikTok star Addison Rae blew up her career by posting dance videos with her mom. In her recent fame, she has been part of the Hype House, became besties with Kourtney Kardashian, released a couple of songs, and is now starring in movies. Upcoming Netflix movie He’s All That stars Addison Rae and Tanner Buchanan, and follows the couple as they fall in love – complete with an influencer twist. In the movie, Addison plays Padgett Sawyer, a popular girl who revolves her life around social media and gaining followers. She even goes so far as to lie about where she lives in order to fit in with her wealthy school friends. Tanner plays Cameron, a pessimistic loner who only has one friend. As the result of a bet with her best friend (spoiler alert: she’s mean), Padgett gives Cameron a makeover.
Within the first five minutes of the movie, Padgett’s social-media-star boyfriend cheats on her. Due to this scandal, she loses many followers and her sponsorship. In order to gain back everything she’s lost, she makes a bet with her best friend, Alden. She bets that she can turn Cameron into the most popular guy in the school, and help him win prom king. As she becomes closer with Cameron, Padgett starts to have real feelings for him, and regrets making the bet. Padgett’s other best friend, Quinn helps her out and accepts her for who she really is. As a result, Padgett starts to see who her true friends are. While Quinn is supportive and a real friend, Alden is backstabbing and fake. Throughout the movie, Brin, Cameron’s sister; Nisha, Cameron’s best friend; and Quinn help Padgett navigate her troubles and get closer with Cameron. Cameron finds out that their relationship was built on a mere bet, and gets upset with Padgett. Luckily, Padgett finds a way to fix her actions by giving a moving speech at Prom. At the end of the movie, all is well, and Padgett and Cameron travel to Europe together as a happy couple.
Overall, the movie was very predictable but the very few plot twists kept it slightly interesting. From the beginning, it was obvious that the movie would end with the two main characters falling in love. On the other hand, some parts of the movie, like Alden turning out to be very mean and conceited, were total surprises. We would rate this movie as a 7/10. The frequent bad acting is partially made up for by the interesting storyline. The general goal of the movie changes multiple times throughout, which makes it seem confusing and messy to the viewer. To illustrate, Padgett’s goal at the beginning of the movie is to gain back her sponsorship so she can pay for college, but by the end she is all-encompassed by her new boyfriend, and totally loses sight of the original goal. Due to sponsorships, the movie drops a few name brands and people, including EOS, Old Navy, Brent Rivera, and Kourtney Kardashian. The engaging movie just needs better acting and a less obvious plot to make it more appealing.