As I am an honest Puck... (Get Over It (DVD))

Member Name: andrewl

Product:	Get Over It (DVD)
Date:	29/05/04 (58 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Martin Short

Disadvantages: The dialogue

...Avoid this film, because it sucks.

At first glance, Get Over It might well appear to have the stupidest plot in recent cinema history. Much of the action revolves around a school production of Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream, updated with the addition of cheesy pop songs. This abomination of a production is masterminded by a gloriously camp Martin Short, who is quite blatantly laughing all the way to the bank in this brainless teen flick. Of course, it requires the real-life tensions between the actors to bring out the magnificence of Shakespeare's play in spite of the cack-handed interference of the director.

So, Shakespeare with Backstreet Boys dance routines? Well, many of you will probably wince at the very thought, but I have a somewhat different perspective.

Yes, folks, it was only three years ago that your very own Andrewl was treading the boards in a 'funked up' (a description that's just as apt if you choose to misread it slightly) production of this very play. Thankfully I was just playing a Rude Mechanical, and can look back and laugh as I tell you that we played Athens forest as a 70s nightclub, with Bottom belting out such disco anthems as Play That Funky Music, White Boy.

The rehearsal period was a lot of fun, to be honest, especially as I'd managed to swing it so my character didn't have to dance. But then, we saw the programme that had been printed. The director, a public school chap with a quite impossible surname, was taking it a lot more seriously than us. He'd written an 800-word essay on the rationale behind the nightclub setting. And there was me just surreptitiously swapping costume items to look as much like Jon Pertwee as possible...

So for me there's no sacrilege in this wickedly inept attempt to stage one of the Bard's greatest comedies. Rather, I found myself wondering why the producers didn't go further and show what amateur theatre
is really like. This is clearly a boy's film, after all, focussing on the rivalry between Berk and Striker, and on Berk's attempts to win back his old girlfriend. I'm sure that a capable actress like Kirstin Dunst would have been more than happy to introduce a bit more tension between her character and the ex-girlfriend. After all, does A Midsummer Night's Dream not include a lengthy scene of girly fisticuffs ('Always low and little!'; 'My legs are longer, to run away.' Etc)? This should have been included in the final scenes of the school's production, to show that the female characters do actually have minds of their own.

Essentially, Get Over It is a slightly less blatant retelling of a Shakespeare comedy than other recent films like 10 Things I Hate About You. Had it not taken the bizarre step of actually incorporating the original version of its source play, it could even have been considered intelligent.

It's as though the film's director has had a chat with my old director chum from Plunge Productions regarding interpretations. In the film, the interaction of the teenage characters is vastly different according to their location. School represents a place of authoritarianism and repression, just as Athens does to the absconding lovers. The various chaotic parties, dates and rehearsals that pepper the movie represent the forest, a collective subconscious where the inner self can shine through.

The various characters succeed and fail in their various goals according to how they behave in the 'forest' scenes. Berk, changing the play halfway through to express his personal feelings, is open and allowing his repressed instincts free rein. And Kirstin Dunst's Alison does much the same thing. So they end up happy.

Berk's ex, Kelly, expresses her feelings about her two 'suitors' towards the end of the film. But she does so in the theatre's wings, rather tha
n on the stage. So she doesn't end up quite so happy.

Striker, the villain of the piece, is downright devious in pursuing his goal of humiliating Berk. He is still repressing even in the arena of his subconscious, and so he is cut out of society, excluded.

Oh, and the whole production is the equivalent of Pyramus and Thisbe.

Now, in case you weren't clear on this point, the basic plot of this film is that Berk is ditched by his long-term girlfriend at the beginning and falls in with the younger sister of his best friend in an attempt to win her back from her new boyfriend. This basic teen plot is certainly beefed up by the inclusion of allusions to Midsummer Night's Dream, but these same allusions also undermine the film's success.

For a start, Shakespeare's dialogue highlights the paucity of that in the film. With the exception of some of Martin Short's lines ('You'd tell me if you'd had a stroke, wouldn't you?), this is lazy movie-writing by numbers. When one boy is revealed to be unfaithful to his girlfriend, people spout lines like, 'I'm sorry you had to find out like that,' as though they're delivering profound sentiment.

Also, the thoughtful subtexts suggested by the play sit uncomfortably with the clumsy attempts to emulate the Farrelly brothers. The theatrical trailer played up this side in particular - when Berk gets shot by a crossbow, the trailer redubbed the paramedic with the line '... puncture wound in the left buttock' rather than the 'arm' that actually gets punctured in the film. These attempts to add a few naughty bits to get the 'gross-out' comedy tag bore me. It's getting almost as irritating as films that are promoted solely on the strength of having someone involved with The Matrix on board.

It's clear that no one involved with The Matrix would be seen dead with their names on the cinematography cre
dits here, though. With thought bubbles and dream sequences galore, the film looks like a 90 minute music video. Now, I'm a great fan of that particular neglected artform but it looks like a poor 90 minute music video.

The acting is OK. I wouldn't be surprised if Martin Short wrote his entire part, so perfectly does he fit it. Sisqo is OK. The caddish Striker is far more interesting than the terminally nice Berk.

Basically, what we are left with is a horribly uneven comedy. If the right bits of the play had been exploited, if Dunst had had a more active character, if the producers had just had a think about exactly what kind of film they were trying to make, it could have been a superior teen comedy. As it is, it's watchable, but unremarkable.

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