He’s All That is the latest Netflix Original movie aimed at teenagers, and it might be one of the worst as well. With an average rating of 1.4 stars out of 5 on Letterboxd, the movie can be added to the growing list of poorly rated Netflix films alongside Tall Girl, The Perfect Date, Sierra Burgess is a Loser and The Kissing Booth. He’s All That is a gender-swapped remake of the 90s film She’s All That, starring online influencer Addison Rae as Padgett Sawyer. In the film, Padgett is a famous makeup influencer who loses her popularity and sponsorships after an embarrassing live stream of Padgett crying after getting cheated on by her boyfriend. Even though Padgett lives in a rich district of Los Angeles, losing her sponsorships results in her losing her college savings. To regain her sponsorships and popularity status, Padgett makes a bet with her friends: she needs to turn the loser of the school, Cameron Kweller, into the next prom king, or she will be branded a “loser for life.” Predictably, Padgett and Cameron fall in love, until the bet is revealed to Cameron. The emotional conflict seems to last less than the trailer of the movie: Cameron forgives Padgett overnight and the film ends with the couple becoming travel bloggers. To say that this movie is bad and lazily written is an understatement. The plot of the movie is redundant and predictable, the main actress was a poor casting choice and the unfortunate truth is that Netflix has no plans of improving the quality of their movies.
The main draw of this movie is the main actress, Addison Rae. Addison became relevant on TikTok for dancing to popular songs and has been the subject of many controversies already. Casting an influencer for an otherwise low-production film can attract a large audience who would watch the movie just to see their favourite celebrity on-screen, regardless of their talent. This is her first time acting in a movie, and it is noticeable. That is extremely disappointing as she is basically playing herself: a popular online star with a bubbly personality. The issue is that scenes meant to be the production’s emotional core simply don’t make sense due to Addison’s delivery.
Even though He’s All That received abysmal results, Netflix will continue to produce low-production films with lacklustre plots due to one reason: box office success. Not only does He’s All That cater to a young audience who doesn’t necessarily care about the quality of a movie as much as its entertainment value, but tens of thousands of people have also watched the movie out of hate and curiosity about the film’s bad reviews. Like the movie or not, Netflix can only see the number of views a movie got, and that is good enough for them, which is why we can expect similar movies to keep on being released on the platform.
Bibliography
Haasch, Palmer. “How Addison Rae’s Career Went from Casual TikTok Dances to Appearances on ‘Keeping up with the Kardashians’.” Insider, Insider, 14 July 2021, www.insider.com/who-is-addison-rae-tiktok-dance-kardashian-controversy-2021-7#rae-has-been-followed-by-other-minor-controversies-during-her-career-7.
“He’s All That (2021).” He’s All That (2021) Directed by Mark Waters • Reviews, Film + Cast • Letterboxd, 2021, letterboxd.com/film/hes-all-that/.