The Perfect Score 2004

Critics score:
17 / 100

Reviews provided by RottenTomatoes

John Monaghan, Detroit Free Press: Simply uses the test as a reason to assemble six teen stereotypes. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: Kids facing the SAT in real life may appreciate this movie, if only because it'll make them feel so much smarter than these characters. For the rest of us, it flunks. Read more

Allison Benedikt, Chicago Tribune: Succeeds because at its core it is about the very different pressures very different young adults face, and the test that insists on judging them as one and the same. Read more

Melinda Ennis, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Despite the serious subject matter, director Brian Robbins can't decide whether this is a drama, a satire or an American Pie-style teen spoof, and the film dissolves into a shapeless, weightless mass. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: Its rebel yell takes a back seat to the inevitabilities of the squeaky plot. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: When the most entertaining thing about a film is the printed press material that mimics the look of the test, you know you're in trouble. Read more

Eric Harrison, Houston Chronicle: Almost nothing about this MTV production, a heist movie about standardized testing, works. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: Scribes Marc Hyman, Mark Schwahn and Jon Zack have crafted a snappy romp about right, wrong, and the teasing in-between. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: Like The Breakfast Club recast as a videogame for simpletons. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: Even among the ranks of the diminutive, this one's got nothing to boast about. Read more

Matt Weitz, Dallas Morning News: The acting isn't that great, despite good performances from Ms. Johansson and Mr. Nam. Read more

John Patterson, L.A. Weekly: This undercooked high school heist movie is disfigured by flabby dialogue ... unfunny pratfalls and criminally slack pacing. Read more

John Anderson, Newsday: Obvious, broad and burdened by leaden lines of dialogue that are dropped here and there like demented coconuts. Read more

Lisa Rose, Newark Star-Ledger: Strains to be a hip splice of Ocean's Eleven and The Breakfast Club, but plays more like a never-ending civics lecture, trying to mask its pervasive lameness in visual zip and savvy reference points. Read more

Jack Mathews, New York Daily News: It's not funny, though it tries to be, and it has nothing serious to say about the politics of the SATs, though it purports to. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: Six New Jersey teenagers conspire to steal the answers to the SAT in this thin, pleasant teenage heist comedy. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: Surprisingly smart, surprisingly wise, predictably funny and yet unpredictable in general, it punctures stereotypes and taps into 17-year-old angst. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Next time, director Robbins and his screenwriters should spend a few hours inside a real high school rather than re-hashing stock stereotypes from bad '80s movies. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: It's too palatable. It maintains a tone of light seriousness, and it depends on the caper for too much of its entertainment value. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: Lively and fun in places, but overall it has a listless, tepid feel. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: A dull film with unsympathetic characters brought together by a gimmicky premise that's handled with no imagination and a pristine fraudulence of emotion. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Grading on the admittedly weak January curve, it squeaks by with a pass. Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read more

Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star: Is there not something just plain wrong with a movie about cheating on exams that's less fun than taking one? Read more

Derek Adams, Time Out: Read more

Mike Clark, USA Today: Johansson's nearly deadpan deliveries are looking adaptable to a variety of roles, and the Nam character's stoned demeanor gets laughs in a variety of situations. Read more

Brian Lowry, Variety: Read more

Ed Park, Village Voice: Christensen and most of the young men are barely there. Read more