WARNING: The following contains spoilers for He's All That, now streaming on Netflix.
One of the main components of the '90s entertainment scene was a vast array of teen rom-coms. Whether it be hormone-fueled adventures like Can't Hardly Wait and Trojan War or more cutesy films like She's All That, there was nuance, heart and soul. Sure, they were cheesy, but they genuinely captured the humor and angst of teens at the time. Unfortunately, He's All That, the gender-swapped remake of She's All That, fails to deliver the same magic for a few key reasons.
Padge (Addison Rae) is initially sponsored by Kourtney Kardashian's Jessica on social media, pushing content for her as an Instagram influencer. But Jessica drops her when Padge melts down during a live stream when she catches her boyfriend, Jordan, cheating. Jessica doesn't care about her trauma, however, and cuts off Padge.
Jessica's clearly superficial, so the fact Padge offers a speech at the end about teens ignoring cosmetic lifestyles, magazines telling them what to wear and how to be comfortable with their own body image, is hypocritical. She's telling women to believe in themselves whilst working for someone who doesn't, which is in stark contrast to She's All That, where Zack's sister acted as a soulful mentor, getting him to understand how he should empower someone like Laney.
Padge bets Alden she can make Cam (Tanner Buchanan) as popular as Jordan, whose brand was built up so much that he became a hit LA rapper. Padge's intent is to increase her social media following and get Jessica to sponsor her again. However, things don't add up because she can't show her audience how she's turning Cam into a dashing debonair. The original kept it simple, with the cool kids simply making a bet for the sake of popularity. But Padge's idea complicates things by bringing in Instagram and monetizing content.
Padge and Cam eventually work things out after the secret comes out, embarking on a new romance at Homecoming. They then head to Europe, where she vlogs, but this is counterintuitive to Cam's beliefs. He thinks special moments are intimate while online voyeurs create an air of invasiveness. Padge initially seemed to agree, but ultimately, it doesn't feel like she truly gasped his perspective because she quickly goes back to her old life. The film also never even addresses what she did with Jessica's problematic offer, even after her pro-feminist speech. So, while She's All That's Zack and Laney adjusted to make each other better, the same can't be said for Padge and Cam.
In the original film, Zack and Laney connected to each other's personal lives outside of school when they met each other's families and friends. This created a path to forgiveness through empathy and compassion, with Zack understanding he hurt someone who'd lost a lot and tried to carve a new life out through art.
She's All That never has Cam connect to Padge's mom or understand why she needs to create this facade, so him forgiving her doesn't resonate. Padge has few redeeming qualities, whereas Laney realized Zack had personal demons he was working through, which is why she let go of her issues. Had Cam gotten to know more about Padge, including her stress with bills and university fees, the redemption might have worked better.
To see how He's All That fails to live up to the original, the film is streaming now on Netflix.
0 Comments