The idea probably looked good on paper. Six high school upperclassmen pressured by college placement offices to excel on the SAT, conspire to steal the answers in order to insure acceptance to the college of their choice.

Unfortunately, like a student who freezes during a standardized test, "Perfect Score" seems petrified in most scenes, lacking any momentum and fizzling out at its conclusion.

The film’s supposed buzzline, —"The SAT is not about who you are but what you’ll be, "— makes about as much sense as this muddled plot. The key vocabulary words of nervous college-bound seniors ring true—"fall back schools," "safety schools," "GPA" and the SAT magic number 1600—but the characterizations of this diverse group scream false.

Talented actresses Scarlett Johansson—who is in danger of overexposure with her third film in a year ("Lost in Translation," "The Girl With the Pearl Earring")—and Erika Christensen, who was electric in "Traffic," are totally wasted in this lamebrain project. Johnasson is the worldly "bad girl" with an absentee father who enjoys a multitude of young bed partners. Christensen is the pride of her over-achieving parents, who live vicariously through their daughter’s entrance to prestigious Brown University.

This predictable cross-section of American youth is rounded out by a well-scrubbed architect wanna-be with his sights on Cornell University, a dumb basketball jock intent on playing college hoops, a lovesick goof who wants in where his girlfriend is a co-ed, and a maniacal bottom feeder who is ranked last in the class.

Darius Miles, former NBA player for the L.A. Clippers, plays Desmond, the sub-par student who wants to play basketball at St. John’s University (a fact that somewhat parallels Miles’ life). Casting this young man is a grave mistake, his leaden, stilted performance further miring this already stagnant story in inertia.

What should have resembled a heist flick becomes silly, with its frequent heart-to-heart conversations between characters, just when they should be nervous about getting caught and the film’s tension level should rise. Instead, the story comes to a screeching, grinding halt as these teens get all touchy-feely.

The inclusion of "Scooby-Doo" veteran Matthew Lillard as Kyle’s older brother is laughable. Introduced as a wacko who doesn’t appear employed and whiles away the hours playing the guitar atop the washing machine, his transformation into the all-knowing brother who lends sound advice is not only inconsistent but also totally unbelievable.

The cast—with the exception of the amateurish Darius Miles—has potential. Too bad the script scored way below the national average.