Looking for some teen romance? Then maybe you’ll like “Whatever it Takes”. Okay, here’s the deal (NOTE: Read in high pitch 14 year-old girl-speak) Ryan is in love with popular and hot high school chick Ashley, but she doesn’t even notice him since he’s a geek. Then Chris, who’s a jock likes Maggie, but she thinks he’s a jerk. So Ryan and Chris team up to help eachother score the girl of their dreams. Confused yet? Do you even care?
Chris and Maggie are lifelong friends whose houses are about 10 feet apart which makes it really convenient for the story. What we all know is that they were meant for eachother all along. What’s even more distressing is that the climactic dance sequence is completely lifted from “It’s a Wonderful Life.” (Remember, the floor that splits in two revealing a pool underneath? Yeah, same scene inserted into this movie. Clever.)
This is about as lame as teen comedy/romance films come. There’s no reason that this film could not have been on television. In fact, any episode of “Dawson’s Creek” is more hard-hitting. How can you have TWO shower scenes in a film and not one glimpse of nudity? We are living in the Post-American Pie age and a film like this just has no chance whatsoever.
It’s even more disappointing since this film was written by writer/director Mark Schwahn who proved he could make the troubles of young adults interesting in his indie film debut “35 Miles From Normal.” So take my advice and skip the “Whatever” and check out “35”.
