But this isn't just another poorly made movie. It had an all star teen cast at the time that included Shane West, star of such tear jerkers as "A Walk to Remember" and "Whatever It Takes", Kirsten Dunst, who was typed-cast as a high school upper classman for the better part of four years, Ben Foster, fresh off a breakthrough role in "Freaks and Geeks", and Mila Kunis, then-star of "That 70s show." Let's not forget Martin Short, a comedic staple in many 80s films.
Despite the star-studded cast and a director who previously created several critically acclaimed short films, the film was so bad it was good. Where do I begin?
The story of the film is loosely based on Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, much like many other teen films at the time. Foster plays a high school basketball jok who get's dumped by his questionably attractive girlfriend for Shane West, who is sporting a horribly fake British/Australian accent, so bad that the producer decided to change his physical appearance so it was less transparent.
Kirsten Dunst plays a theater geek who has a thing for Foster, who continues to ignore her obvious advances in his comedic attempts to win back his girlfriend.
It was really hard for me to understand why a film with such a great slew of actors could be so horrible. Then it hit me: everyone is anti-cast.
Shane West is obviously not British. Ben Foster was too meek and quiet compared to his usual roles. Kirsten Dunst, who usually plays the popular-type girl with all the friends, unsuccessfully attempted to play someone enamored with the arts. Sisqo is a singer, I really don't know why he was in this movie. The worst had to be Mila Kunis. At the time, she was known as the pushy, bitchy girlfriend of Michael Kelso on that 70s show. In this movie, she actually came off as kind and compassionate, which was off-putting to say the least.
Overall, all of these failures make the movie so stupid, it's worth watching again and again. I highly recommend it.
