The Perfect Score

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The Perfect Score
The Perfect Score Theatrical Poster
Directed by	Brian Robbins
Produced by	Donald J. Lee, Jr.
Written by	Marc Hyman Jon Zack Mark Schwahn
Starring	Scarlett Johansson Erika Christensen Chris Evans Darius Miles Vanessa Angel Leonardo Nam Bryan Greenberg Kyle Labine Bill Mackenzie
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date(s)	January 30, 2004 (US)
Running time	92 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
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IMDb profile

The Perfect Score is a teen comedy film released in 2004 and directed by Brian Robbins. It was produced through MTV Films and was released in the United States on January 30, 2004. The film stars Chris Evans, Bryan Greenberg, Scarlett Johansson, Erika Christensen, Darius Miles and Leonardo Nam.

The film focuses on a group of six high school students whose futures will be jeopardized if they fail the upcoming SAT exam. They conspire together to break into a building and steal the answers to the exam so they can all get perfect scores. The film deals with one’s future, morality, individuality and feelings.

The film has similarities to other high school movies, including The Breakfast Club and Dazed and Confused, which are often referenced throughout the film. However, the film was panned by most critics and performed quite poorly at the box office, losing out to the dance film You Got Served.

Tagline: The SAT is hard to take. It's even harder to steal.

1 Plot
2 Reaction
3 Trivia
4 External link

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The film revolves around high school student Kyle (Evans), who needs a high score on the SAT to get into his preferred architecture program. He constantly compares himself to his older brother Larry, who is now living above his parents’ garage. Kyle’s best friend Matty (Greenberg) wants to get a high score so he can go to the same college as his girlfriend, but he is an underachiever who had previously failed his PSAT. They both complain that the SAT is standing in the way of their futures.

The two boys realize that fellow student Francesca Curtis’ (Johansson) father owns the building that houses the regional office of ETS, where the answers to the SAT is located; they decide to break into the building and steal the answers in order to achieve perfect scores. Francesca supports them but will not help them. She later changes her mind. Meanwhile, Kyle falls in love with Anna Ross (Christensen) and tells her about the plan. Matty doesn’t like the fact that the second-highest-ranked student in school knows about the plan and has an outburst, right in the presence of stoner Roy (Nam), who now wants in on the heist. And finally, Anna tells the school basketball star Desmond Rhodes (Miles), who needs a 900 or better to join the basketball team at St. John's University after high school.

An early attempt to break into the ETS offices fails, but the team then devises another plan. On the eve of the exams, Francesca will arrange for Kyle and Matty to have a meeting near the top floor, staying after closing. The other three will wait outside and watch the night guard until Francesca, Kyle and Matty have successfully stolen the answers. The night finally arrives.

The first part of the plan goes well, with Francesca, Kyle and Matty successfully dodging security cameras and the night guard. However, the answers are located on a computer, and only the technical genius Roy can crack the password; he and the other two get in the building and Roy cracks the code. Still, the answers can’t be printed, so the friends decide to take the test now with all their brains combined and get the answers. In the early hours of morning, they are finished and have all the answers ready. The night guard ascends the stairs and they try to escape; however, Francesca is left behind and is about to be caught. Matty lets the guard arrest him in order to save Francesca, with whom he has identified most of himself in. Everyone else escapes, but each faces a certain confrontation before the exam: Kyle’s brother asks him if he’s really worse than a thief, Matty is bailed out by Francesca, Anna finds independence, and Desmond’s mother convinces Roy to quit drugs.

Before the SAT, all six students realize that they don’t really want to cheat; Roy hands out the answers to a group of stoners. In the end, everyone does well without cheating, and they all set off to live happy lives.

[edit] Reaction

The film was panned by almost all critics, scoring a 16% "Rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Slant Magazine critic Keith Uhlich called it an "MTV film that that extreme right-wing moralists can be proud of, as it posits a quintessentially American world of racial, intellectual, and sexual conformity." [1] Many compared the film unfavorably with The Breakfast Club, and many even called it a rip-off. Entertainment Weekly wrote the film off as being "like The Breakfast Club recast as a videogame for simpletons." [2] Likewise, Roger Ebert awarded the film zero stars out of four, the ultimate dishonor, calling the film "too palatable. It maintains a tone of light seriousness, and it depends on the caper for too much of its entertainment value." Ebert's review went on to point out that The Perfect Score was given a wide release, but that Better Luck Tomorrow, a teen drama film that received much more acclaim, was given a very limited release.

Financially, the film was unsuccessful as well. It opened in 2,208 theaters and grossd only $4.8 million, making for a small $2,207 per-theater average (By comparison, Better Luck Tomorrow opened in 12 theaters for a per-theater average of $27,751, and was also produced by MTV Films). Placing fifth over the weekend, the film saw sharp declines in following weeks and ended its domestic run with only $10.3 million (Worldwide, it grossed only $381,577 better). The film is also the twentieth highest-grossing MTV Films production. The film has not become much of a success on home video either.

[edit] Trivia

Darius Miles was recruited out of high school by St. John's University to play basketball and elected instead to go pro. His character in the movie wanted to go pro and instead elected to go to St. Johns University.
'Mike Jarvis' plays himself as the head basketball coach at St. John's University. By the time the movie was released he had been fired as the university's head coach.
It is impossible to steal a useful copy of the SATs because there are several versions. Everyone who takes it has different questions or the questions are in a different order. However, on November 6, 1988, the SAT was successfully stolen by two students of Brunswick School, a private boys' school in Greenwich, Connecticut. These two students entered Greenwich Academy, a private girls' school which was a test site for the SAT, using a stolen building key to gain access. The students opened the shrink-wrapped test, made copies on a copy machine, and re-sealed the test using plastic wrap.[3] The Education Testing Service also reported the previous year that stolen SATs were found at two New York City Schools, Stuyvesant High School and Brooklyn Techical High School.[4]
In one scene, Roy is watching Heat (1995).
Scarlett Johansson's character chastises her father for dating younger women. In real life, Johansson was known for and had acknowledged her predilection for dating older men, specifically men over 30. She changed her attitude about this around 2005, when she started seeing then-27-year-old Josh Hartnett.