He’s All That is basically a makeover show involving influencers and TikTok.
Tanner Buchanan (left) stars as Cameron Kweller and Addison Rae (right) stars as Padgett Sawyer in He’s All That. CREDIT: Netflix
This post for He’s All That contains spoilers.
He’s All That (2021, directed by Mark Waters) is a remake of 1999’s She’s All That, though I’m pretty sure that the former just gender swapped the main characters and borrowed the makeover plot point. Aside from that, the 2021 movie has been Gen Z-fied with social media and influencers.
Addison Rae also makes her acting debut in this high school flick, where she stars as Padgett Sawyer, an influencer who posts beauty tips on her TikTok, an on-screen career that mimics her real-life career. Her makeover victim of (not her own) choice is a brooding high school teenager who is passionate about photography, Cameron Kweller (Tanner Buchanan), who takes an interest in Padgett and her influencing gimmicks after he became smitten by her cover of Teenage Dream by Katy Perry.
Though Rae excels in playing an influencer (how can she not?), she fails to deliver in the emotional moments of the movie. Perhaps more acting classes may help her fix that in the long run, but for now, she should stick to what she does best—influencing. Buchanan, on the other hand, is dashingly handsome despite his protruding jaw that makes him look like he’s chewing on a mouth guard all the time. He also showcases some of the karate moves he has picked up in his hit series Cobra Kai, which was just renewed on Netflix for a Season 5.
A nice nostalgic return to the remake is Rachael Leigh Cook (she was the one who got the makeover in the original), who stars as the Padgett’s mother, and Matthew Lillard, who stars as the high school’s principal. However, both actors were purely cast as an ode to the original movie.
He’s All That‘s movie plot, however, is pretty much all over the place. It jumps from one high school drama to another, or is this what real-life high school is really like? Waters, who is known for directing other high school flicks like Mean Girls and Freaky Friday, delivers mediocre work here. He’s All That is definitely far from the standard of the other movies he has done, but an enjoyable one to watch.
Rating: 3/5
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