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The New Guy Movie Review

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Actors: DJ Qualls, Eliza Dushku, Eddie Griffin, Lyle Lovett, Zooey Deschanel, Jerod Mixon, Parry Shen, Illeana Douglas
Review Summary and Plot Commentary about The New Guy
Dizzy Harrison (DJ Qualls) is the ultimate looser in his high school. He is being humiliated and bullied daily. He decides to get expelled from school and get it over with. After using some nasty pranks to irritate the school principle Dizzy gets his wish. But before his dad (Lyle Lovett) and his therapist (Illeana Douglas) transfer him to a different school, Dizzy gets to spend a little time in jail. There he meets Luther (Eddie Griffin) who teaches him how to fight dirty and act tough.

Dizzy decides that his new high school is a great chance for him to start over. Using what Luther has taught him, Dizzy quickly establishes himself as the most popular guy in Highland High. He beats up Connor, the school bully/stud (Ross Patterson), steals Connor's girlfriend (Eliza Dushku) and uses all kinds of unusual cheerleading tactics to make Highland High's Football team the best in Texas. He does all of that under a pseudonym – Gil Harris. His lies start to catch up to him when Connor and a bully from Dizzy's old school join forces to expose Gil Harris as a fraud that he is.

Juvenile humor abounds in this silly but entertaining addition to the high-school-geek-becomes-a-popular-stud genre.   And to say that this movie has cameos is an understatement…. Horatio Sanz (Saturday Night Live) is a prison dance instructor, Jai Rodriguez (Queer Eye For the Straight Guy) is a cross-dressing hairdresser, Tony Hawk and Tommy Lee play themselves, Gene Simmons is Reverend, Jerry O'Connell is a party dork, Vanilla Ice is a crazy music store clerk; then there are Henry Rollins, Kool Moe Dee, and David Hasselhoff.   The soundtrack -- from rap to funk to Green Day -- nicely complements the movie.

Here are some of the coolest scenes to watch out for:

* The bully comeuppance scene where Dizzy/Gil decides to prove himself the top dog at his new school by beating up the most popular, arrogant and good-looking school bully named Connor. At first Dizzy's plan backfires when Connor sends him flying with one punch. But Dizzy doesn't give up. Remembering all that Luther has taught him, Dizzy busts Connor's balls and knocks the big shot out cold. Unfortunately, everyone went to class so no one got to see Dizzy kick Connor's ass. Even then Dizzy doesn't give up and proceeds to drag unconscious Connor's ass around the school trying to show off. The scene is really funny because Dizzy keeps missing his audience (everyone leaves before he has a chance to show them that he knocked Connor out)….
* The gratuitous Eliza-Dushku-gets-to-model-various-swimsuits-in-front-of-Dizzy scene is bound to make this movie very popular with a lot of people….

--Garfield Durang, Resident Scholar




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Analysis of The New Guy
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Plot
Time/era of movie: - present (2000-2010)
Kids growing up/acting up? Yes
Kids: - committing crimes
Age group - trouble in high school

Main Character
Identity: - Male
Profession/status: - student
Age: - a teen
Eccentric: Yes - eccentric - wild
Hair color? - blonde
Hair type - (man) short/standard straight
Body type - (man) very skinny
Events of movie makes character more... - happy
Ethnicity/Nationality - White (American)
How sensitive is this character? - sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor? - Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence - Average intelligence
Physique - healthy but a geeky weakling

Secondary Main Character
Identity: - Female
Hair color - brunette (Brown)
Hair style - (woman) long wavey
Body type - (woman) ample bosom & buttocks
Unclothed? - very tight clothes
How much in movie? - 40%
Ethnicity/Nationality - White (American)

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male
Age: - a teen
Profession/status: - student
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - 20%
Hair color - brunette (Black)
Hair type - (man) very short/crewcut
Body type - (man) muscular
unclothed? - chest
Ethnicity/Nationality - Black
How sensitive is this character? - mean, arrogant
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Average intelligence
Physique - very athletic

Setting
United States Yes
The US: - Texas
Misc setting - school

Style
Accounts of torture and death? - no torture/death
Movie makes you feel... - full of laughter
Sex/nudity in movie? Yes
What kind of sex: - vague references only - kissing - touching of personal anatomy - actual description of sex
Any profanity? - Occasional swearing
If lots of song/dance... - lot of singing and dancing
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