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13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Sporadically funny but basically flawed comedy, February 20, 2003
I have to admit that I off-and-on enjoyed this more than many a movie that deserves a higher rating. Adam Sandler is a comic genius when he succeeds. But let him be involved in a movie, and there's always a major risk of a certain kind of failure. And that is that one or more "hero(es)" will dig themselves so deep a hole of mean, jerky, or sadistic behavior that they have an impossible task of digging themselves out to rise to real believable heroism. Often it is Sandler's own characters who are bit by that bug, but not this time. He's involved in this movie as an executive producer, and, as acting goes, only in a cameo. His cameo character is just a doofus going along for the ride, no more or less. It's Rob Schneider who has the lead role here, and, while his acting has been criticized, I can only find it to be among this film's less problematical aspects. He starts off playing a small time robber named Clive, first seen robbing a service station. He's not a particularly brutal robber there. Later we'll see him trapped in a young woman's body (yes this is a body-switching flick, like a throwback to the late 1980s in THAT regard!), and finding motivation in that morph to become a more brutal robber. But in the opening scene, he doesn't go ballistic or brutalize the service station attendant on finding there's only 15 dollars or so to take from the cash register. On his getaway we see him treated more cruelly than he treated his victim. There he runs into a gang of four high school girls - snobby prom queen candidate types. They are stock characters of teen comedies. They play cruel pranks as often as they can on anyone less popular than themselves. They're the kind you would expect, in any ordinary good or bad teen comedy, to end up falling into a pile of manure or something like that, with everyonne else cheerily seeing them as deserving it. They mistake Clive for a service station attendant and expect him to check under the hood. Too bad any resemblance to 80s or earlier retro themes ends with body switching and full service gas stations. These girls are full-blown contemporary cruel high-school vixens. The driver and ring leader among them, Jessica, beeps the horn several times and the four all giggle with sadistic glee as it makes Clive bump his head hard against the hood. Turns out Jessica has just stolen an enchanted (unbeknownst to her) pair of ancient African earrings. She drops one of them on the pavement as the four make their getaway from Clive and his dazed aching head. He sees the earring and picks it up, thinking it something perhaps valuable to add to his meager loot from the robbery. There the terror begins. Turns out, as long as the two enchanted earrings are separated, they cause a body switch between the two possessors. So Clive and Jessica will be stuck in each other's bodies for a while. The movie gives surprisingly little attention to Clive in Jessica's body. Jessica in Clive's body, on the other hand, manages to convince her(?) three friends that she really is Jessica, despite looking like Rob Schneider. The four set out to reunite the earring pair and get everyone back in the flesh they belong in. Yes, I warned, you, this foursome will come out being heroic! I could buy into their heroism only to the extent that I could pretend their original cruelty was never part of the movie. Meanwhile, the seldom on-screen Clive in Jessica's body fares less well in convincing any friends to accept him as he is, yet he achieves no forgiveness through his ordeal; he'll still be seen as a villain in the end. Jessica, and especially her three friends not dragged through any awkward metamorphosis, have a relatively easy path of pennance for their past sins, but get forgiven and allowed to be heroic. Mean girls get to redeem themselves, but bad guys are bad forever. No wonder one review I saw interpreted this as a "chick flick". But it gets to be one dishonestly, letting the "chicks" off easy.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Hot Chick, December 12, 2002
Jessica Spencer (Rachel McAdams) is her high school's most popular student, but also its meanest. Together with her friends (including Anna Faris), Jessica makes life miserable for most of the people around her. But her attitude changes when she comes into contact with mystical identity-swapping earrings, and her body is swapped with that of a grimy small-time crook named Clive (Rob Schneider). Stuck inside a shell she can't quite figure out, Jessica must make amends with those she's offended, before her new body threatens to ruin her relationship with her boyfriend (Matthew Lawrence), the big cheerleading contest, and, of course, prom.I'll be honest, `The Hot Chick' is feebly directed, written with a distinct aim at crudity and dangerous stereotyping, drags on for over 100 minutes, and stars the less than appetizing Rob Schneider. Yet, with the help of producer Adam Sandler, and Schneider's developing writing talents, `The Hot Chick' overcomes its weak design, and turns out to be a completely agreeable, often very funny experience. While it doesn't share in Sandler's normally good natured method, it makes up in sharp targets for comedy, and a supporting cast that's is better then expected. There is a lot of comedic road to cover with this plot, and Schneider (with director and co-writer Tom Brady) does his best to touch on every teenage girl cliché and absurd situation. Coming off his similarly silly `The Animal,' Schneider is growing more confident with each new film as the box office grows with them. `The Hot Chick' features Schneider's best performance to date, as he eats up the chance to turn his decidedly goofy 40 year-old male body and narrow personality into that of a sexually-charged 17 year-old girl. The results are quite funny, with Schneider finding time to lampoon other subjects like teen girl key chains, morning erections, pillow fights, the mystery of male genitalia and the men's room, strip club rules, and the giddy taboo of teenage drinking. It's all written in a extravagantly bizarre Sandleresque way (Mr. Sandler also cameos here), that merges the absurd with the deliriously funny, and I was surprised just how much Schneider connects with the funny in `The Hot Chick.' Helping the film is the supporting cast, namely Anna Faris and Rachel McAdams. Faris is a veteran of satiric comedy with her stint in the Wayans Brother's `Scary Movie' films (I would even to so far as to say Faris is the only reason to watch those pictures), and she has a way of wringing a laugh out of anything. With her gigantic eyes and willingness to go very broad for a response, Faris is a pleasure in `The Hot Chick,' and steals the film away from Schneider when she can. A talented comedienne at 26, Faris has a long career ahead of her for audiences to look forward to. The same could be suggested of McAdams, who has the unenviable task of embodying the other side of this gender switching comedy. Like Farris, McAdams also lets herself look a little foolish to find the laugh, and she succeeds just as easily. A nice debut for this young actress. Where `The Hot Chick' swerves into trouble isn't the jokes that don't work (and there are many), but the fact that every scene seems to be about 30 seconds longer than it should be. The pace often becomes sluggish, and for a comedy this silly, it's murder. The picture seems one editorial pass away from being truly great, with jokes run into the ground and performances carried on a little too long. Arguably, `The Hot Chick' may have other problems that some simple edits here and there won`t fix, but it's funny more often than not, and I don't ask much more than that from wacky undertakings like this.
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10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sweet-natured fantasy, December 2, 2004
I enjoyed it; it's got great laffs. Adam Sandler's occasional appearances are fun. Director Tom Brady has made a film that has many levels of thought, a grotesque reimagining of Boys Don't Cry with a happy ending. Rob Schneider's energetic performance is to be commended; Anna Faris (Scream movies) has proven that she can handle fun comedy. This is not a film to be judged, but to be enjoyed. Those who take the time, will be rewarded. Some great messages for everyone.
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