When celebrities jump into acting from different mediums it can be a tricky situation; for every Arnold Schwarzenegger or Mark Wahlberg there are dozens of unsuccessful Paris Hiltons or Rihannas. As far as something as short form and potentially throwaway as Tik Tok goes, the skills don’t necessarily transfer to the silver screen. That hasn’t stopped Addison Rae, one of the platform’s biggest users, from trying as she stars in cult nineties teen comedy She’s All That in the gender-swapped remake He’s All That. Expectedly, she isn’t exactly Daniel Day Lewis on-screen, but Rae does her best and isn’t as much to blame for the film’s failures as the script itself and the overly cheesy tone.
Taking on the role made famous by Freddie Prinze Jr. in 1999, Rae stars as Padgett – a high-school senior on the cusp of winning prom queen with alongside her budding rap star boyfriend Jordan (Peyton Meyer) as she heads on to a life of internet fame, thanks to her constant online presence and social media branding. When her life is turned upside down by Jordan and her insensitive friend Alden (Madison Pettis), Padgett accepts a dare from Alden to transform the ugliest boy in school into prom king, seeing it as an opportunity to detail her journey and earn back her fame. She settles on outcast Cameron (Tanner Buchanan), inserting herself into his life until he is forced to become her friend and uncovering the prom king potential within. But as Padgett bonds with Cameron, she realises that there is more to him than meets the eye, and that the fame she has placed such an importance on in her life, isn’t as important as genuine human connections.
The original She’s All That is hardly a masterpiece; a formulaic, dated teen comedy with a few standout scenes but precious little else: the prime candidate for a remake improvement. Rae’s version is almost identical story-wise, but instead of fretting over which college she should go to Padgett frets about losing her social media following and sponsorships, and thereby a shot at college. It’s a welcome update that modernises what is now an extremely nineties film, but adds its own wrinkles, namely the cringe-inducing social media cheesiness. Annoying text bubbles and social media posts bombard the screen when Padgett is engaging with her followers, creating a cacophony of noise and garbage that is more irritating than it is engaging. Hell, the messages in the posts feel like they were written by some kind of generic comment AI as opposed to an actual teenager in 2021.
Whilst the film operates under the guise of a remake, what it really is is a showcase for Addison Rae. A statement to the world that she is more than the social media that made her. This is presented through the blatantly obvious “subtext” of Padgett’s crisis of conscience about what social media has done to her as a person and the havoc it has wreaked on her ability to form genuine connections with people that don’t consist of likes or follows. Except we never get to any point of actually condemning social media, likely because Rae is practically the face of an entire platform, and the film can’t – as a genuinely great Kourtney Kardashian puts it – “go viral in the wrong way”. Even after all her supposed growth Padgett continue to maintain this overtly always-online presence, even if it irritates the living hell out of her new beau. Rae is trying to break into acting, but at the same time ensuring she doesn’t bite the hand that feeds her, and that creates a film strangely lacking in the criticism it pretends it is dishing out.
As far as Rae’s actual acting goes it’s fine. There’s a certain magnetic optimism in her facial expressions that the Tik Tok star has cultivated through her endless seconds-long clips that lends itself perfectly to the bouncy, upbeat character of Padgett. When it comes time to hit some more dramatic notes however she seems unsure of how to play the scenes, relying on her more practiced co-star Buchanan to carry her through the more romantic moments. Their chemistry is nowhere to be found, relying on extravagant gestures to show how much the characters care about each other rather than any particularly meaningful conversation or interaction. Thankfully original supporting player Matthew Lillard and co-lead Rachael Leigh Cook return to spice things up, particularly Lillard in a scene stealing performance as a principal who gets away with saying things real principals could only dream of. Their presence is a nice nod to the original, even if they are playing different characters, and iconic returning song “Kiss Me” still hits as hard now as it did two decades ago.
He’s All That functions as more of a launchpad for Addison Rae’s acting career than it does as a loving recreation of a cult classic teen comedy. Mark Waters’ attempt at critiquing the current state of social media and its infection of our lives falls flat thanks to its lead star being be the face of the most trendy social media platform on the planet, with the message so muddied that it is hard not to think how much more relevant the original film’s message – beauty hiding beneath the surface in all of us – is in an age where social media has warped users perception of physical beauty. Addison Rae can act, not particularly well but not as terrible as some may have predicted, and while she’ll likely continue to find work on the strength of her name and brand recognition alone, this debut feels as disposable as one of her Tik Toks.
He’s All That stars Addison Rae, Tanner Buchanan, Madison Pettis, Rachael Leigh Cook, Peyton Meyer, Isabella Crovetti, Annie Jacob, Myra Molloy, Kourtney Kardashian & Matthew Lillard – Streaming on Netflix now.