Shadows on the Wall | The Re-Education of Molly Singer

The Re-Education of Molly Singer

dir Andy Palmer
scr Todd Friedman, Kevin Haskin
prd Warner Davis, Todd Friedman
with Britt Robertson, Ty Simpkins, Nico Santos, Jaime Pressly, Cierra Ramirez, Holland Roden, Zach Scheerer, Wendie Malick, Joel Michaely, Jonathan Lipnicki, Jerome Beazer, Carlos Alazraqui
release US 29.Sep.23
23/US 2h00

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Loud and rude, this deliberately in-your-face comedy is a blast of colour and chaos. It's so relentlessly goofy that it can't help but elicit laughter, but the filmmakers strain to hit each punchline. Various plot threads don't hold water, while the shift to more serious conversations is a stretch. That said, the story has a madcap charm to it that holds the interest across a badly overlong running time.

Now a lawyer, Molly (Robertson) remembers university as a four-year blur of parties and sex. Eight years later things haven't changed much for her and best pal Ollie (Santos). Late for court again, her boss Brenda (Pressly) assigns her to go undercover at her alma mater to help Brenda's teen son Elliot (Simpkins), a freshman who needs to come out of his shell. Happy to return to her heyday antics, Molly sets out to smarten Elliot's image and help him win the girl (Ramirez) he likes, even though she's already seeing the campus jock (Scheerer).

Wackiness unfolds at breakneck speed, as scenes overflow with snappy banter and uproarious slapstick, with special attention to frat-boy mayhem. Although the rudeness is of the wink-wink variety, never remotely realistic. Molly's plan largely involves making Elliot popular with the cool crowd by drinking and partying at an extreme level. Sexualised shenanigans are frequent, but they're shot in a way that's absurdly juvenile. Indeed, each of the pranks these idiots play on each other is painfully childish.

Performances are heightened to match the movie's over-the-top energy levels, which means that very few of the characters emerge as actual human beings. Robertson is at least the life of the party, making the most of every crazy thing that comes along. Molly's irresponsible hedonism isn't wholly convincing, and neither is her shift to responsible member of society. But Robertson has terrific chemistry with the always amusing Santos, who almost manages to give Ollie some interesting layers. And Simpkins has the most engaging role as a perhaps too-nice guy who finds his groove.

The film's first half is so cartoonishly ridiculous that the attempt to add more grounded story points later never quite gels, especially as it leads to some simplistic moralising about the importance of living in the present. Along the way, the frantic pace of the humour never lets up, and the generally crazy vibe is at least sporadically enjoyable. So while there's nothing remotely sophisticated about this film, it might do the trick for those looking for mindless silliness.

themes, language 25.Sep.23

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