A Winner That Shocked No One
The Academy Awards ceremony is undoubtedly the most anticipated award show all year, and this season we see a sweep that shocked no one.
Netflix’s He’s All That is the film of the year, with a heartfelt, unconventional story that was truly inspirational to the youth of today, it was the most rewatched film on Netflix. The film also went on to win Best Actress, Best Costume Design and Best Film Editing.
The film took audiences by surprise-even though it is just a remake of the 1999 film She’s All That. The film’s plot follows Padgett Sawyer, an Instagram influencer who pretends she is wealthy to her followers and friends. Padgett soon finds out her boyfriend is cheating on her, and her outburst is unfortunately streamed live to her entire fanbase and her world comes crashing down around her. In order to redeem herself Padgett takes on the challenge of transforming her antisocial, unpopular classmate, Cameron Kweller, into Prom King.
The film is shockingly realistic in its portrayal of high school relationships, with uber-cool themed parties, a dance battle and Cameron riding out on a horse to see Padgett at the end of the movie. One of the more unconventional aspects of the film is the inclusion of a queer relationship in the film. Nisha and Quinn, Cameron and Padgett’s best friends respectively, end up together at the end of the film, both characters are queer and POC, which reflects how far LGBTQ+ representation has come in the past decade.
In summary, He’s All That is a film that will make you laugh and cry, and want to go back to the sweet, happy days of high school when life was just horse riding, karaoke and Kourtney Kardashian offering you a sponsorship. The award for film of the year is certainly deserved and I personally look forward to seeing more films like this in the future.
Ananya Gambhiraopet is a second-year communication management and design major who is directing a remake of “10 Things I Hate About You” starring Charlie D’Amelio and Lil Huddy. You can reach them at [email protected].