The New Guy

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=80 BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF" bgproperties="fixed" background="04000500dvldtc.png"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FFCC66" FACE="Arial" ><B>Reel Movie Critic.com</B></FONT><B>     |     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Reel Movie Critic.com"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id1837.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="new movie"><U>new movie</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id1732.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Life or Something Like It"><U>Life or Something Like It</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id1885.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Lilo and Stitch"><U>Lilo and Stitch</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id1735.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Lumumba"><U>Lumumba</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id1884.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Margarita Happy Hour"><U>Margarita Happy Hour</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id1878.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Martin Lawrence Live: Runteldat"><U>Martin Lawrence Live: Runteldat</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id1888.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mash Season One on TV"><U>Mash- Season One on TV</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id1880.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Master of Disguise"><U>Master of Disguise</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id1930.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Men in Black II"><U>Men in Black II</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id1868.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Merci Pour Le Chocolate"><U>Merci Pour Le Chocolate</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id1879.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Metropolis"><U>Metropolis</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id1894.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Minority Report"><U>Minority Report</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id1734.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Monsoon Wedding"><U>Monsoon Wedding</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id1873.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Moonlight Mile"><U>Moonlight Mile</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id1889.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Money Talks"><U>Money Talks</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id1748.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Mothman Prophecies"><U>The Mothman Prophecies</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id1766.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Murder by Numbers"><U>Murder by Numbers</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id1938.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="My Big Fat Greek Wedding"><U>My Big Fat Greek Wedding</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id1891.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="My Wife is an Actress"><U>My Wife is an Actress</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id1778.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Never Again"><U>Never Again</U></A>   |   <B>The New Guy</B>   |   <A HREF="id1887.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Not another Teen Movie"><U>Not another Teen Movie</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id1893.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="One Hour Photo"><U>One Hour Photo</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id1765.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Orange County"><U>Orange County</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id1890.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Other Side of Heaven"><U>The Other Side of Heaven</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id1762.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Panic Room"><U>Panic Room</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id1892.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Possession"><U>Possession</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id1791.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Queen of the Damned"><U>Queen of the Damned</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id1736.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mr. Deeds"><U>Mr. Deeds</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id1760.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Resident Evil"><U>Resident Evil</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id1931.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Reign of Fire"><U>Reign of Fire</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id1846.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Return to Neverland"><U>Return to Neverland</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id1839.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Road to Perdition"><U>Road to Perdition</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id1844.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Roberto Succo"><U>Roberto Succo</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id1841.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Rollerball"><U>Rollerball</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id1792.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Rookie"><U>The Rookie</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id1895.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Rules of Attraction"><U>Rules of Attraction</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id1863.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Salton Sea"><U>Salton Sea</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id1848.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Scratch"><U>Scratch</U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="041d2c00dvldtc.png"> <div> <B>Home Pages for</B></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.reelmoviecritic.com/index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.reelmoviecritic.com/index.htm"><U><B>Movies</B></U></A></div> <div> <B>      </B><A HREF="http://www.newbookdiscounts.com/" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.newbookdiscounts.com/"><U><B>Books</B></U></A></div> <div> <B>            </B><A HREF="http://www.reelmoviecritic.com/travelforless/id364.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.reelmoviecritic.com/travelfor"><U><B>Travel</B></U></A></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>                   </B><A HREF="http://www.reelmoviecritic.com/travelforless/id361.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.reelmoviecritic.com/travelfor"><U><B>Great Web Sites</B></U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=400 BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <div> The New Guy</div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="501" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 146 WIDTH="495"><div> <IMG SRC="12b2608c0.jpg" border=0 width="96" height="140" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"> <A HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000069HQ2/reelmoviecriticc"> The New Guy on DVD</A>  </div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="579" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 20 WIDTH="575"><div> <B>The New Guy </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FFCC66" FACE="Wingdings 2" ><B>êê</B></FONT><B>1/2 (R)</B></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="575"><div> Reviewed By Brenda Sexton</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="549" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 23 WIDTH="545"><div> High school is war</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="580" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="269"><div> Dizzy Harrison:  DJ Qualls</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="304"><div> Luther:  Eddie Griffin</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="269"><div> Danielle:  Eliza Dushku</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="304"><div> Director:  Ed Decter</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> <B>30 Second Bottom Line</B>: Dizzy Harrison is his high school's number one nerd target for harassment from the cool guys.  After unbelievable torture, Dizzy has a stint in jail where he is transformed into a hip, powerful dude.  Dizzy gets himself transferred to a different high school to finish up his senior year, and takes over as the biggest, baddest man on campus. </div> <bR> <div> <B>Story Line:</B> Dizzy Harrison is so skinny and wimpy that he almost asks to be stepped on by the tough, cool kids at school.  His torture is relentless and horrifying; from being clothed in a woman's dress, strapped to a chair and forced to sport big fake boobs, to having his private parts gripped and yanked by the 80-year-old librarian.  For most kids this would mean the end of life, and Dizzy would do just about anything to get himself out of this school.  After he is put on medication for being a problem student, he ends up in jail for a brief stint. His cellmate, Luther (Eddie Griffin), had a similar high school experience and therefore adopts a mission of converting Dizzy into a bad, scary, <I>popular</I> dude.</div> <bR> <div> With the transformation complete, Dizzy, who is now calling himself "Gil Harris," tentatively shows up at the new high school determined to </div> <div> follow Luther's rules. The first rule, clock the biggest, coolest guy in the school, which he does.  From that point on Gil reigns supreme.  He  also manages to win the heart of the prettiest girl in the school, Danielle (Eliza Dushku), and lead the team on to football victory.</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>Tell Me More About It</B>: This is such an easy film to dis, but I'm not going to.  First I thought parts of it were funny, mostly due to the charismatic acting of DJ Qualls.  He's endearing, certainly convincing as a nerd and plays the tentative transformation into a cool dude well. The pretext of his going to jail, which he seems to do periodically for refresher courses in being cool, is a little confusing, but no one is meant to believe this is based on a true story.  The film also seems to make a pretty big leap to get a mandatory high school football game factored into the story, but the game sets the stage for the mandatory conflict between new school and old, and gets the girls to don their cute cheerleading outfits.</div> <bR> <div> The film does capture the agony of fitting in at high school.  As Luther, our mentor, states early on, "Popularity in high school is not a competition.  It's a war."  And Dizzy and his friends are being pulverized.</div> <bR> <div> As Dizzy rises in power and influence, he briefly becomes the enemy by dissing his true- blue, unpopular friends from his old school (in front of his new girlfriend). He soon realizes his horrifying weakness of character and returns to them contrite and truly transformed.  Now he is a power dude with heart and manages to lead his new high school into being a kinder, gentler, more accepting community.  Is this stuff real?  No, but it has some funny moments and some decent heart.  My teenager could see worse, so I actually won't mind her seeing this one.</div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="591" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="587"><div> R (sex; violence; language)</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="587"><div> Brenda D. Sexton © 2002</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="587"><div> <A HREF="mailto:brendasext@aol.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:brendasext@aol.com"><U><U>Brenda@reelmoviecritic.com</U></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> Mini Filmography </div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="579" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="286"><div> DJ Qualls:  "Road Trip"</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="286"><div> Eliza Dushku:  <I><B>"Bring It On"</B></I></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 57 ><NOBR><div> Eddie Griffin:  "Deuce Bigalow"</div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="286"><div> Ed Decter:  Directing Debut, wrote screenplay for "There's Something About Mary"</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>