Movie Review: The To Do List

Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t – in this case, it’s the latter.

The To Do List was at least brave enough to assign the sex-crazed teenager role to a female. Brandy Klark (Plaza) is valedictorian of her high school. She’s an overachieving, socially awkward, goody two-shoes type. About to spread her wings into the big bad world, Brandy feels she needs to lose her virginity before college, and sets her eye on the popular Rusty Waters (Scott Porter). Having never been kissed, she has a lot to learn in a very short time. The film methodically traces her sexual escapades.

Set in 1993, before the Internet opened doors to search engines like Google, Brandy had to get creative.

Taking tips from her older sister Amber (Rachel Bilson), her polar opposite and not the brightest crayon in the box, as well as her two best friends, Wendy (Sarah Steele) and Fiona (Alia Shawkat), she puts together a to-do-list of sexual acts.

This comprises some run-of-the-mill intimate acts such as masturbation, as well as more obscure acts such as teabagging (we have Google now – look it up). Naive Brandy has several sexual encounters with her study-buddy Cameron (Simmons) over the course of the summer, each time getting one step closing to her goal. Cameron begins to develop romantic feelings for her, unaware that he’s merely a pawn in her game.

As you contemplate whether or not the ending is worth watching, Brandy finally gets close to Rusty. Curiosity kills the cat and you’re stuck, sitting through another 30 minutes to see the climax (as it were) of the piece.

This film certainly pushes the envelope, but in most cases, you’ll wish it hadn’t.