What’s a teen comedy without a dumb jock or a character makeover?
The Duff is a teen comedy that was released in 2015 and directed by first time director, Ari Sandel. The movie can be compared to mean girls or any teen comedy from the 90’s. It’s goal is to entertain and promote self-worth while also portraying the stereotypical high school realities.
Of course the movie follows the classic storyline of unpopular girl and popular dumb jock guy. In The Duff, it follows Bianca. Bianca is dubbed the DUFF(designated ugly fat friend) in her friend group by her neighbor Wes, who happens to be a superstar football player. He is your stereotypical gorgeous, dumb jock. He dates the popular girls, but he is very shallow and of course he is failing. The two characters make a pact to help each other. Wes helps Bianca become hot and get the attention of her crush and Bianca helps Wes pass his class.
This movie screams stereotypes all over it. A standout stereotype is Wes’s character. The jocks often get portrayed in movies as dumb. They know how to play sports, but when it comes to anything intellectual, they fall short. This stereotype has been portrayed for countless years and it still gets portrayed to this day. In this movie, Wes can’t pass his chemistry class. He is struggling when Bianca begins helping him. While he is considered dumb intellectually, he knows exactly how to succeed at dating and he completely breaks down full scenarios of what Bianca needs to do and how it will work out for her.
This movie also capitalizes on the stereotype of character needing a makeover throughout the movie. Bianca is very old school and she doesn’t follow the typical guidelines of society. She is by no means ugly, but she isn’t better looking than her best friends according to society. Because of this, the movie portrays her as needing a guys help to become a beautiful woman that can get a guy. It sends the message that in order for Bianca to be happy or live a meaningful life, she needs a man.
By the end of the story, of course Bianca ends up falling for Wes. The guy she is disgusted with for the first part of the movie because he is a man child and a dumb jock. Wes ends up becoming a more rounded person, but it takes many mistakes of being a jerk to Bianca in order for him to realize the kind of person he truly wants to be. By the end of the movie we don’t see much character growth in Wes. It is just assumed that he has become a good guy and it is assumed that he is going to drop he is dumb jock routine that he is characterized as having in the beginning.
Overall the movie brought some comedy and was entertaining to watch. Unfortunately the movie capitalizes on many stereotypes that as a society we need to recognize as false.
