Premature

I think the makers of this film read Criticker user MartinTeller's mini review for Groundhog Day. It's a shame that Generation Z will no doubt think this is an original and awesome idea for a film.

Yes, it's basically a more immature Groundhog Day, but if you can look past the fact that it isn't particularly original, there's actually a lot of funny moments in here. John Karna has great comedic delivery, Katie Findlay is beyond likable, and Alan Tudyk is great as always.

"'Let's combine Groundhog Day and American Pie' they said, 'It'll be great,' they said, 'There's no way it'll suck,' they said."

For the first time in a long time, I am STARTING my rating at 0 and working up, based solely on the first 2 minutes (no pun intended), which is nothing but derivative garbage written by middle-aged men trying to remember what it's like to be a teenager. Reading interviews, the director's inspiration is heartfelt 80's teen movies. Well, Dan, you missed the boat with this mostly-heartless dribble. 5 points for masturbating to get out of trouble, and a few funny lines & scenes. Otherwise, terrible.

The outtakes have the director shouting lines at the cast and that puppetry sums up this film. Premature is unimaginative, crude and predictable in its dragged-out plot. The writing is the main problem, with jokes built around lazy stereotypes and lacking in punchline. The cast does a decent job but their characters are fundamentally unlikable. An occasional chuckle, but not even Tudyk can save this load.

Top badass moment? Seeing what happens if a focus group of film producers writes down its favourite 100 films on brightly coloured post-it notes and then randomly picks two to combine. In this case I think it works pretty well, especially if you consider what Frankensteinian evil it could’ve birthed. It makes the most of its source materials and its 'core premise'; (yes, the latter does makes 'it' sound far more mature). It really is very funny at times. No cats, chainsaws or decapitations.