Supercool

Some may say that Supercool is simply a rip-off of teenage fantasy comedies and other romantic films about high school students looking for female dates. However, Supercool is not an American comedy but a Finnish film and it becomes interesting to see the look of a Finnish director fed on American cinema and who draws enough material from it to realize a crazy comedy surfing between the cinematographic saga American Pie and the comedies of John Hughes (The Breakfast Club (1985), Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986))

Neil (Jake Short) and Gilbert (Miles J. Harvey) are two inseparable nerds from the same high school.  Their deep friendship is put to the test when Neil's wish to turn into a handsome Supercool boy magically comes true. When Neil wakes up one morning with the face and body of a model, he sets out to impress the girl of his dreams, the gorgeous Summer (Madison Davenport), at her wild house party. With the help of a neighbor, Jimmy (Damon Wayans Jr.), and his brand new Porsche, Neil and Gilbert embark on a night that will quickly get out of hand. 

The script of Supercool is certainly not its strong point as it is content to really copy some American comedies of the 80's but nevertheless the scriptwriters Olli Haikka, Ali Moussavi, Patricia Goren, Eric Goren have managed to find all the DNA of these American comedies and to hold all our attention by a script conducive to many twists. Shot in the United States, this Finnish film benefits from a rather efficient casting with young actors who seem to take a communicative pleasure in interpreting their characters. 

Of course, the film once again features a misfit high school student who prefers to live vicariously through the writing of a graphic novel in which he becomes a hero capable of facing a hostage situation and saving a high school girl he is secretly in love with. The fact that he becomes another person will allow him to realize his dreams but above all will lead him to see life and the world around him differently. Supercool doesn't reinvent the teenage comedy, but it doesn't hesitate to go off the rails of political correctness and to offer us a wild comedy in which the actress Madison Davenport totally holds our attention.

Supercool
Directed by Teppo Airaksinen
Written by Olli Haikka, Ali Moussavi, Patricia Goren, Eric Goren
Produced by Olli Haikka
Starring Jake Short, Miles J. Harvey, Madison Davenport, Odessa A'zion, Iliza Shlesinger, Damon Wayans Jr.
Cinematography : Cory Geryak
Edited by Jussi Rautaniemi
Music by Jacques Brautbar
Production company : Yellow Film & TV
Distributed by Vertical Entertainment (United States), SF Studios (Finland)
Release dates : 9 April 2021 (San Francisco International Film Festival), 11 February 2022 (Finland)
Running time : 100 minutes

Seen on February 7, 2022 (Screener press)

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