The best remakes take classic plotlines and pull from contemporary cultural context to reimagine a story for a new generation. He’s All That, Netflix’s adaptation of 1999’s She’s All That does none of this.
There’s no way to put it lightly—this is not a great movie. As students, we love a bad film. There’s a long tradition of watching them, but this is something different. It’s so clearly a commercial product with no real creative direction, making even the most ironic watching so tedious. There’s nothing to hook you in and very little reason to keep watching. Shoutout to Kourtney Kardashian though; it was amazing to watch her both debut and close her acting career in the same movie.
I mean, there was potential here, and there are ideas about social media, class and beauty standards that could be interesting, but it’s just covered in plastic. It’s a highly sanitised, uninvited update to a fine enough 90’s classic. If She’s All That is COVID-19, He’s All That is the Delta variant.
One of the most sinful decisions was to remix the iconic track “Kiss Me” from the 1999 film. The original, a romantic slow ballad, now turned into a Dance remix from your mate who can’t even get a gig at Bar 101. If you go in with low expectations, it’s actually somewhat watchable. But don’t go expecting anything deep, I mean it’s Addison Rae, minus a right hand, singing “Teenage Dream” making over the ‘loser’ who has six pack abs. It is what it is, and nothing more.
“He is definitely not all that.”
