That James Marsden - Day 12

This little expedition into the 90s has proven only one thing so far. I had a lot of crushes in my youth! Yesterday's picks brought James Marsden across my radar and, I do declare, that boy has excellent cheekbones.

Title: Disturbing Behaviour

Year: 1998

Synopsis: The new kid in town stumbles across something sinister about the town's method of transforming its unruly teens into upstanding citizens.

Tagline: It doesn't matter if you're not perfect ... you will be. 

This movie isn't original and not very well done, but I enjoyed it. Mostly because James Marsden is the main character and he has such pretty eyes. Le swoon. 

The nineties had an influx of horror movies and sadly, some of them weren't very good. Okay, a lot of them weren't very good, but we like them because they remind us of our youth. The thing about Disturbing Behaviour is the plot isn't bad but we've seen it before with movies like The Stepford Wives and Invasion of the Body Snatchers. And those movies happen to explain it better. Granted, this did take it to a high school level, so I guess that could be considered a new twist. Maybe. If you cock your head to the side and squint, it's a whole new movie! 

There is a significant lack of information in this thinly stitched together eighty-four minute flick. If I was on the production team, I would have suggested beefing the movie up to ninety minutes and adding in six full minutes of answering questions. I mean, why was Dr. Edgar Caldicott so invested in adjusting the behaviour of the delinquent kids in town? How did he create this attitude adjustment chip? Also, a little more information pertaining to the suicide of Steve's brother would have been nice and why did none of the parents think it odd that their burnout, I-hate-school kids suddenly pulled a 180 and started behaving appropriately? Talk about red flag warnings. 

I might have suggested cutting the whole scene where they breakdown the stereotypes in the cafeteria as well. It felt really cheesy and not a single teenager on this planet has ever broken their student body into these class systems.  

Besides, we've seen this before in 1995 in a little movie called Clueless. And before that in The Breakfast Club.

This whole movie takes the idea of jocks and nerds to a ridiculous level. Even Steve Clark's new friends in Cradle Bay are extremes of what they should have been. White trash burnouts who don't care about school and are next on the list to be 'readjusted' or 'fixed', however you look at it. It seems weird that Steve even fell in with this crowd. I would have chalked him up as a natural Blue Ribbon dude with his handsome face, broad shoulders and tousled hair. Granted, he is tortured a bit what with his brother's suicide. 

At the end of the film, I thought to myself, 'Hey, that wasn't so bad', even though Katie Holmes was in it and she has the emotional range of a mop. Thinking back on it, actually, it was terrible. This doesn't change the fact James Marsden is one handsome devil! I might actually watch this again one day. Just for him. I have a feeling I should be ashamed of that fact. 

For anyone keeping track, there is a full boob shot in this! Nipple included. 

That said, I'm watching Jeepers Creepers right now, and it's far more freaky than I remembered it to be.

Tell me those lips aren't kissable!