Dizzy: DJ Qualls
Danielle: Eliza Dushku
Nora: Zooey Deschanel
Luther: Eddie Griffin
Kirk: Jerod Mixon
Glen: Parry Shen
Courtney: Sunny Mabery
Bear: Lyle Lovett
For the studio that said:Not Another Teen Movie, they're pretty guilty.
But then I'd have to blame Dimension for releasing
Scary Movie
but still
making the suprisingly good Halloween: Resurrection. And like Dimension,
Columbia might have realized what makes a good teen movie that so many
have forgotten about. Sure it has a few scenes of gross out humor but
they're far between. What this movie has is a likeable cast and a good
atmosphere. There I said it, I actually liked a teen movie for once.
The New Guy tells the story of a geek named Dizzie (DJ Qualls) and his
band of friends. They're referred to as blips on the radar screen at
high school and are constantly mocked and ridiculed. One day after a
particularily bad humiliation, Dizzie is thrown into prison after some
bad behavior at the mall (why he went to prison I don't know). There he
meets Luther (Eddie Griffin) who teaches him the crazy eye and a bunch
of other tactics to be popular, including going to a different school.
After being expelled on purpose, Dizzie is transfered to a new school
and goes through a complete change to become Gil Harris. What follows is
the general odd man out finally coming in and a bunch of laughs along
the way.
A teen movie that is rated PG-13? That's suprising. I was prepared to
hate this movie just as I hated Columbia's last teen movie effort,
Slackers
(the worst movie of all time.... seriously). But I actually
liked this one. It's filled with some good cameos, namely one having
Tony Hawk having his skateboard broken over his head and Gene Simmons as
a preacher. Not only that, but it has a good cast. I also liked how it
was told from the geek's perspective. It's been done before but this
works well. It's a shame this movie only lasted two weeks when it was
released theatrically in May because this is one of the better teen
movie's I've seen in awhile. It's not for everyone but anybody looking
for a few good laughs will be hard pressed not to like this movie.
The New Guy features a 1.85:1 transfer along with a full frame transfer.
Into the disc, Columbia has suprised me with this one. This is one of
the better transfers I've seen in awhile. Colors are sharp and well
balanced and blacks are solid as can be. I think the picture is so good
because of the lack of supplements. The only thing I noiced was a little
bit of pixelization in some scenes but overall this is a great transfer.
The sound is a top notch effort as well. After watching Showtime I
thought maybe something was wrong with my set up but The New Guy came
through with great clarity. Dialouge is well balanced in every scene.
Now here's where the disc takes a nosedive. Columbia has only included a
music video and some trailers that are on almost every other release
from them. It's funny because there's an option for the trailers on the
main menu as well as the extra menu. This movie deserves a few deleted
scenes or something.
Overall, I was suprised by this movie. Not a bad effort from Columbia on
the picture department. But if you're looking for supplements to clarify
the hefty price tag you won't find them here. A solid rental though.
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B
37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Jan 2011: Intel Quad Core Dell XPS 8100, i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80Ghz, 8Gb RAM, nVidia GeForce GTS 240, Windows 7
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
