Film Reviews

New Guy

• Rating:
• Director: Ed Decter.
• Starring: DJ Qualls, Eliza Dushku, Zooey Deschanel, Lyle Lovett, Jerod Mixon, Illeana Douglas, Eddie Griffin, Kool Mo Dee, Henry Rollins.
• Details: US / 90 mins / (15PG).

Dizzy Harrison (DJ Qualls) is an extremely uncool kid, who is having a particularly bad senior year. After another bout of bullying from the school jocks, Dizzy, with the aid of a prison inmate (don't ask), decides to get himself expelled and create a new bad assed identity for himself. Enrolling at the town's other school, he calls himself 'Gil Harris' and quickly manages to make an impression. After hitting it off with the school's foxy lead cheerleader, Danielle (Eliza Dushku), 'Gil' becomes something of a cult hero to the school's football team. Unfortunately, Danielle's boyfriend gets jealous and starts thinking that there might be more to Gil than meets the eye. It might be a gross out comedy classic, but There's Something About Mary has a lot to answer for at this stage. Like The Sweetest Thing, The New Guy has been heavily influenced by that particular film (not especially surprising as director Ed Decter was one of the writers on Mary). Unfortunately, this influence doesn't extend much beyond recycling a lot of the gags with little of the same imagination or wit. In short, this is depressingly predictable stuff that will only appeal to those who like their cinema 'derivative' with a capital 'D'.

Review by Garreth Murphy