Assassination of a High School President

Quite Possibly _The_ Single Best Direct to DVD Movie Ever
Although a critical smash at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, this film did not enjoy a conventional theatrical release due the its distributor, The Yari Film Group, filing for bankruptcy. Given all the CGI as a replacement for a decent screenplay garbage that Hollywood does manage to shove into theaters, one almost feels the pang of some cosmic injustice on behalf of film's creative team and performers. Fortunately, Assassination of a High School President has garnered enough of a following to prevent it from slipping through the cracks.

What impressed me most was the screenplay! And what impressed me most about the screenplay were the character arcs of the leading actor and actress, Reece Daniel Thompson and Mischa Barton. The former writes for the school newspaper, doesn't fit into any of the many social cliques surrounding him, and whose greatest strength, an unyeilding sense of ambition,...

A high school film like no other
It was a unique experience watching this film unfold, and before I gave it a second viewing with the commentary (in which they stated numerous times how they wanted this film to be like no other high school film prior) I was already feeling like I had just watched a very different kind of teen film. But really good.

The theme was best described on the cover art with "Rushmore meets Usual Suspects". The story follows these twenty-somethings playing teens as they traverse their existence at a private high school. Bruce Willis plays excellently his over-the-top self as the militaristic principal. Mischa Barton fills the role as the hot girl on campus, but she did much better overall in Closing the Ring than here. Regardless of the props and older looking feel, this actually takes place in present day, but kudos to the crew in making a teen film exist without modern appliances (cells, new computers, etc.)...

Clever and funny - BUT!
What starts off as a high school romp soon turns into a clever and funny detective story. The caveat is that most of these kids' diction is appalling: to catch all the verbal jokes, best play it with the subtititles turned on.

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