Teen melodrama
at its worst is rampant in According to Greta, a film which seems intent on
making Hilary Duff out to be some kind of admirable rebel. Music video director
Nancy Bardawil frames her protagonist as if she were the star of just that.
Music videos are about making the key figures look good rather than real, and
that is exactly what Bardawil does with this predictable teen drama. What is
most interesting to me is the fact that Bardawil’s name is completely missing
from the DVD, which instead focuses on the cast and Duff’s producer credit.
There is no director as far as the DVD is concerned, and the movie has that
same feeling. It feels more like a vanity project for Duff than a complete
film.
We’ve seen this
story before with Lindsay Lohan and numerous other bratty teen stars. Greta
(Duff) is a troubled seventeen-year-old with a quick wit and rude manner. In
other words, Greta is trying as hard as she is to be a clone of Juno. She is
sent to live with her grandparents (Michael Murphy and Ellen Burstyn) in New Jersey
When Greta isn’t
planning her own death and rebelling just for the sake of seeming cool and
different, she is usually rude and forward. This is the way she talks herself
into a serving job at the age of seventeen. There is also a teenager cook in
the back, one with a troubled background that Greta sees as a way to annoy her
grandparents. She brings the black co-worker home in hopes of shocking her
grandma, and instead starts a relationship with him. She is rude to her
customers and they like her for it. Something about this film comes off as a
teenager fantasy rather than an honest film.
Entertainment Value:
4/10
Quality of
Filmmaking: 3/10
Historical
Significance: 1/10
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