RIOTUS

Popular. Susie Quinn (Ruby Rose Turner) and Bobbie Roberts (Reid Miller) wanna be pop-u-lar. Unfortunately, these besties’ social status has long been relegated to loser-ville. But now they’re in junior year, they vow to change their standing and set their sights on social media fame…by buying TikTok followers.

When that so obviously, painfully, backfires, they’re once again cast back down the ranks of popularity and targeted by this film’s mean girl trio (+1). They’re known as the Pop Girls, led by the downright vicious Vicki Reinhart (Ellodee Carpenter). (The B in Queen Bee stands for Bully in her case—yikes.)

Fortunately, one of the nicer Pop Girls takes pity on them…or perhaps she wants to take Vicki down a peg. She decides to help Susie and Bobbie boost their image. Renee is by far the most interesting character in this film, walking the line between too-cool-for-you and a total sweetheart. Isabella Ferreira portrays her with poise. The scenes where Renee, Susie, and Bobbie work together and bond are where the movie is at its most fun.

With that said, this film falls short of what it is trying so hard to emulate. Almost Popular is a wannabe Mean Girls, but it lacks the complexities that made the 2004 film iconic. It even name-drops MG and makes tongue-in-cheek references to it, just to hammer home what Almost Popular wants to recreate. Or what it wants to spoof (having watched the whole thing, I’m still not quite sure). 

Yes, it’s meant to be over the top, but how far is too far? The characters are generally one-note. Vicki, AKA this film’s Regina George, is just plain spiteful and rude, with none of the sweet-smiling manipulation that made her predecessor a fan favorite. Susie is ditzy and lacks any self-awareness, although the actor does well to make her somewhat endearing. And Bobbie deserves better. His character had so much potential, but is reduced to gay BFF tropes usually found in a ’90s sitcom.

In fact, so much of the film felt dated, or at least too old for the characters. What 16-year-old uses Siri or says the word “hip”? A lot of the references, jokes, and slang took me out of the movie because they didn’t match the generation portrayed here. And don’t get me started on the moms, who it seems haven’t grown up at all since high school (neither of whom is like a regular mom OR a cool mom). That really didn’t work for me.

I think Almost Popular might appeal to a much younger audience than is probably intended. It likely won’t appeal to high schoolers, who are more attuned to the way their world works than the characters here seem to be. They feel like caricatures intended for more slapstick laughs than real growth. Which is a shame because the cast does their best with what they’re given. They have decent comedic timing and sell their stereotypes well. 

The final act does help to redeem the film a little, but by then, it’s too late to save it. I wish it had more development and growth throughout to help the characters go beyond what was presented. Anyway, sorry, Almost Popular, but in this pretty decent year of coming-of-age releases, you can’t sit with us.