CBS Films, Vast Entertainment, Wonderland Sound and Vision,
Mae Whitman, Robbie Amell, Nick Eversman, Bella Thorne, Skyler Samuels, Bianca A. Santos, Ken Jeong
Bianca Piper (Mae Whitman) is in High School and friends with two girls who are quite popular. Things are going along fine until her next door neighbor and close friend Wesley (Robbie Amell) lets it slip that Bianca is their DUFF. Not knowing the term, she digs until she finds out that it stands for Designated Ugly Fat Friend, and it’s a term for the one person in a group who is easily approachable and who can make the rest of the group look better in contrast. She starts looking out closely at all the DUFF’s in the world and realizes Wes is right and she is a DUFF. She makes a deal with him to help him on a very important cause if he will help un-DUFF her. Then the fun begins as he tries to make Bianca the cool one.
This is a rather cute movie, though it is definitely aimed at teens, there’s no doubt about it. That is the audience that the movie was designed for, and certainly they will have the most fun with it, and enjoy it the most. It wasn’t a bad movie though, and as a senior citizen, I enjoyed the humor and the laughs and the tough spots Bianca and Wesley put themselves in while trying to help each other. I wasn’t bored at all with this movie, and I thought Mae Whitman did a really good job in the lead. She has a “Juno” quality about her and she’s just a nice normal girl trying to fit in. She is a good actor and nailed the part. The “pretty girls” are sterotypical mean spirited rich spoiled girls, so they don’t have much to work with, but they do it as well as any I’ve seen, so they don’t detract from the movie. There are a couple other roles that are very well done. Allison Janney plays Bianca’s Mom who has a really funny role that stands out, and Ken Jeong has a nice role as the teacher/sponsor of the school paper who thinks the world of Bianca and tries to help her find her inner voice. It’s a small role, but nice and touching, and though there are some really funny lines, he’s in a small, but nice part with some meat in it. He keeps his pants on in this film (He tends to get naked a lot) and adds a lot to the story. All in all I enjoyed watching The DUFF and found it a pleasant and light movie with loads of teen angst. Definitely aimed at younger teens, but enjoyable by all.
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