Well Deserved Praise

Strong and Moving!

Disappointment for a huge fan!

I was totally surprised at how great this film.You could feel your paranoia rise as the film went on and as you gradually learned the details of the real situation.

It's amazing what I'll allow myself to watch, isn't it? The New Guy lies comfortably at the bottom of the barrel in terms of comedic teenage-fare. Its jokes are tired, its sight gags consistently unimpressive, and its story only elevated by the capable performance of DJ Qualls. You may remember him; that geeky, weird looking kid from Road Trip? His only starring role is unfortunately a film infested with dead end clichés and stale jokes so powerful they could taint a resume for decades.Qualls plays a high school senior named Dizzy, he's the stereotypical nerd who plays in a funk band and is treated with torment day in and day out at his high school. One day, Dizzy becomes involved in a little situation at school. Long story short, the poor guy's innocuous erection when talking to the pretty cheerleader leads to the librarian breaking his penis and sending him into a never-ending sea of embarrassment. For no real reason, loopier than all hell on prescription drugs, Dizzy intrudes on a church sermon at a local mall and is sent to prison.In prison, Dizzy meets Luther (Eddie Griffin), a man who understands the position the poor sap is in and wants to help him out. Dizzy winds up expelled from his old high school and winds up taking advice from Luther on how to be hip and cool. He gives him a makeover and renames him "Gil Harris," as he attends the school run by preppy girls and jocks, East Highland High. He quickly sets his sights on school cheerleader Danielle (Eliza Dushku), and quickly learns the only way to leave an impression is to be a jerk, so that's exactly what he does.One thing I truly need to admire about The New Guy is its lack of ambition. It's hard to find a film from the last few years that seems to be as inert and as lifeless as this one. From its drab title, to its cloyingly bland poster, contrived setup, stock characters that can be described and summed up in one word, unfathomable plot points, and a barrage of other things, it's almost as if the executives behind the picture told Columbia Pictures that they wanted to fund, produce, create, and distribute one of the most boring and listless examples of teenage banal.And they succeeded. Not only does the film make us sit through ninety-three tedious minutes of clichés and dead-ends, it also shortchanges the comic ability of its headlining actor, Eddie Griffin, by giving him virtually zero screen time. The man shows up at leisure, pulls off the ominous prisoner with little convincing charisma, and seems to appear and reappear at convenience.As stated before, DJ Qualls is an underrated talent, unfortunately confined to a supporting role more often than not or simply not recognized at all. This is tragic but also apparent when you have mediocre comedies existing on your resume in place of successful, possibly defining staples. If we were to compare The New Guy to, say, Stealing Harvard, you'd have to resort to the political method of picking the lesser of the two evils. If you compared it to the nineties icon Slacker, well, you'd be comparing art and trash.Starring: DJ Qualls, Eddie Griffin, Eliza Dushku, and Zooey Deschanel. Directed by: Ed Decter.

...but not entirely missing either.It had its moments, and it sagged in some areas.The Patton scene was funny; but DJQ shrieked a little; Ed Rollins as the tattooed warden was funny; Tony Hawk's appearance gave me a chuckle. Dollar$ to Donut$ the script was written (and re-written, and re-written) some time in the 1990's....don't ask me why I think that. I could watch Eliza Dushku impersonate Richard Nixon, and DJ Qualls should probably spend some time in a gym (so the ladies could have some eye-candy). The Cheer Leader squad was amazing to look at. I liked the idea of the transformation via jail cell, and the homage to Dr. H. Lecter was amusing too. I had too much to drink tonight so don't be surprised that I am rambling.All the best, peace out!

Skinny geek Dizzy, gets deliberately expelled so that he can reinvent himself at a new school as the coolest kid on the block In their attempts to plumb 'grosser-than-thou' depths, too many American teen comedies forget there's more to movie life than a succession of sick routines. The New Guy gets it partly right, slipping the gags into a proper, if clichéd, story and ensuring that the main characters are sweet, silly and - in that American Pie way - likable. Qualls is skinny geek Dizzy, who gets deliberately expelled so that he can reinvent himself at a new school as the coolest kid on the block. It works because he knows we know he knows it's a scam that's bound to come undone any moment. Throw in some love interest with Eliza Dushku, an eclectic mix of cameos (Vanilla Ice, Lyle Lovett, skateboarder Tony Hawk) and a 'you've just got to be yourself' message, and The New Guy scrapes a passing grade.Overall, Likable characters and a clichéd but meatier-than-usual story for a teen comedy. Definitely Worth A Rent!

"The New Guy" is one of the best comedy films of the year 2002. D.J. Qualls stars as an outcast high school student who is the butt of all the jokes, and is ridiculed by every social group, but his own, the geeks. With a father like Lyle Lovett, and the friends he has, he must find his way in the world.Hence, go to prison to become a better high school student, and a scarier one too. While in prison, he meets an inmate that knows the secret to scaring someone, "the look". With his new found knowledge, he starts attending a new high school, where he finds the toughest punk, and beats him up, only to become loved by everybody, everybody except his real friends.Along the way, many high school students feel the way that he did, and wish they had a friend on the inside. Comedy is the best way to make friends, so this film deserves 10 out of 10.