The Perfect Score (2004)

User Rating:

5.3/10   

Director:

Brian Robbins

Writers (WGA):

Marc Hyman (story) &
Jon Zack (story) ...

Release Date:

30 January 2004 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime

Tagline:

The S.A.T is hard to take. It's even harder to steal.

Plot:

Six high school seniors decide to break into the Princeton Testing Center so they can steal the answers to their upcoming SAT tests and all get perfect scores.

Plot Keywords:

Test | Mother | Parent | Breaking And Entering | Marijuana

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Erika Christensen	...	Anna Ross
Chris Evans	...	Kyle
Bryan Greenberg	...	Matty Matthews
Scarlett Johansson	...	Francesca Curtis
Darius Miles	...	Desmond Rhodes
Leonardo Nam	...	Roy
Tyra Ferrell	...	Desmond's Mother
Matthew Lillard	...	Larry
Vanessa Angel	...	Anita Donlee
Bill Mackenzie	...	Lobby Guard
Dan Zukovic	...	Mr. G
Iris Quinn	...	Kyle's Mother
Lorena Gale	...	Proctor
Patricia Idlette	...	Receptionist
Lynda Boyd	...	Anna's Mother

Also Known As:

Voll gepunktet (Germany)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for language, sexual content and some drug references.

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

USA | Germany

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Australia:M | Malaysia:18PL | Brazil:12 (DVD rating) | Iceland:12 | Netherlands:6 | South Korea:15 | Argentina:13 | Finland:K-11 | Germany:6 | Singapore:PG | UK:12A (original rating) | UK:12 (video rating) (2004) | USA:PG-13

Filming Locations:

Chemistry Building, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

It is impossible to actually steal a copy of the SAT's because there are several versions. Everyone who takes it has different questions or the questions are in a different order.

Goofs:

Factual errors: At one point, Desmond says that he could "Ace the math and still not get a 900." If a person were to score an 800 on the math section, they would automatically have scored at least 1000, since the minimum score on each section in a 200.

Quotes:

Anna: If you could do anything with your life and money was no object, what would you do?
Roy: Anything at all? Well, when I was a kid I used to play this video game for hours, Street Fighter 2. And I remember thinking "You know, people get paid to do this - to think of the game and create the characters." Like there's this one character Blanka; he's like half human and half lizard who eats his opponents. Well ya know he either zaps them with lightning or he... bites their faces off.
[pause]
Roy: It's pretty cool huh?
[...]

Movie Connections:

Features Heat (1995)

Soundtrack:

Crash & Burn

Mild, entertaining distraction

There's lots of clichés and stereotypes to endure when watching a high school movie. For the most of it, The Perfect Score manages to avoid most of these clichés though the characters are a bit stereotypical. There's the brainy kid, the rebel, the stoner, the loser, the jock and the good guy. Hardly a breathtaking assortment of originals eh?

But their plan to steal the SAT scores and their interaction together are what make this movie worthwhile. The unimaginative marketing for this movie claims it to be Ocean's 11 meets The Breakfast Club. But the actors are carrying the movie, doing the best they can with weak material, rather than the 'wild' premise.

I especially liked Roy, the stoner and narrator as he got the most back story and had more a character arc than the rest of them. And it was pleasant to have the lovely, oh-so-cute Erika Christensen though I'm not too fussed about Scarlett Johansen (she looks like a teenage version of my mother!). A non-Shaggy, but still manic, Matthew Lillard has a small role as a concerned big brother.

You'll not remember it 5 minutes after the credits role but for a non-threatening, easy-going movie The Perfect Score fits nicely. You could do a helluva lot worse. And what else do you expect from an MTV movie?

The DVD is in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen with lackluster Dolby 5.1, though to be fair it mostly a dialogue-driven movie. There are a bunch of fluff features for those who care.