If you see a movie two or three times and you still laugh at the same scripted jokes over and over, that’s when you know it’s a good comedy. Unfortunately for me, rarely do I find movies like that. But after watching The Hot Chick several times, I’ve concluded that this movie is that rare type. And while I definitely wouldn’t call The Hot Chick a masterpiece or classic, I still find it to be a good, laugh-out-loud movie for teenagers and adults (only some) to enjoy.

My most memorable experience with this movie brings me back to my 8th grade trip to Washington D.C. Each night we stayed in Rockville, Maryland, and we had all planned on going swimming every night when we got back from the city, but there’s this quirky Maryland State Law that doesn’t allow people to use a public pool before Memorial Day… Go figure. What we did to free ourselves from boredom was order a movie in one room, and have everyone go into that room and watch it together (which was around 18 people in one hotel room). We ordered The Hot Chick one night, and as dumb as this will probably sound, this was one of the most memorable nights of the trip. Everyone jammed on the bed (Haha… That sounded wrong), and we watched the movie together. We all laughed our a-s-s-e-s off at the movie all night, and just had a lot of fun doing so. Ah, great times…

Back to the actual review…

♠ The Plot ♠

Though I wouldn’t really call the plot of The Hot Chick truly original (I see some connections with Freaky Friday), it’s not so cliché that you’ll be bored to death.

Jessica Spencer (Rachel McAdams) is your typical high school hottie. She’s got the best boyfriend in the world, Billy (Matthew Lawrence), and she has April (Anna Faris), the best friend one could ever have. Jessica is the type of chick all the high school girls strive to be (though she has some enemies such as Bianca), for everything about her life seems to be great, or so they think…

One day, while shopping in the mall, Jessica and her friends stop at this small shop which sells African trinkets. Jessica comes across these earrings that would be perfect for prom, but she finds out they’re not for sale (they’re an ancient artifact). Jessica won’t take “no” for an answer, so what does she do? She puts “the earrings” in a different box and then goes to buy them, pretending that she’s only buying “normal” earrings. Real smooth…

The girls hit a gas station on their way home, and that’s where they encounter a low-life man (Rob Schneider) who was pretending to be the gas pumper (he was actually robbing the gas station, but then the girls came). One of Jessica’s earrings fall out, and the man takes it home, and in total curiosity puts it on his ear, and…

*BOOM* The next morning the two bodies switch places because of an ancient curse placed on the earrings. Now Jessica (with the man’s body) must learn to cope with the “changes” she has just gained, which proves to be quite difficult and ends up bringing lots of laughs to the viewers of this movie.

Will Jessica get her body back before prom? Will the two bodies ever get switched back period?

♠ My Thoughts ♠

Though I wouldn’t exactly call the acting of this movie superb, I think everyone does a fair job. Rob Schneider must have had some guts to play this role as a teenage female. He is sooo funny playing Jessica, that I’m sure you’ll be laughing at various moments (if not its entirety) during this film. What’s funny is that Jessica (Schneider) really has no desire to even try acting masculine, which accounts for all the humor found in The Hot Chick. He acts just like a typical teenage girl, except in a man’s body. And as for Schneider’s role as the piece of trailer trash (the man), he did just fine, but his role at Jessica is still the best performance here. I don’t know if I would say that Schneider’s role as Jessica was “believable,” but that’s not really the point of this entire movie—it’s all imaginary. Overall, I think Schneider did a great job playing Jessica and the low-life guy, and gave us plenty of laughs.

Anna Faris and Rachel McAdams did a good job too. Both girls are beautiful blonds, so that’s a plus in my book. Anna’s role as April came off pretty well. April seemed like the girl-next-door type, except with better looks (is that possible?). Rachel McAdams gave a good performance too. Her role as the popular high school chick was really good, but her small role as playing the low-life man in a chick's body was just mediocre in my opinion.

My favorite scenes in the movie are when Jessica (the manly version) and all her friends go to the club. Jessica’s actions at the club are hilarious, especially when he/she (whatever you wanna call it) goes to the bar and order some cocktails, and also the bathroom scene, where Jessica “learns how to pee.” Another good scene is when the manly version of Jessica calls to tell Billy, “I should have made love to you when I had the chance,” while he/she is crying. That’s a good scene. And all the scenes where Jessica is learning to get used to all the changes that she gained (shaving, body hair, boners, etc.) are humorous. And then the very last scene of the movie where Schneider/McAdams (I won’t spoil it for you) is driving in the taxi cab is pretty unexpected. There’s a bunch of other scenes in the movie that are hilarious, so you’ll just go have to rent the movie to see what I’m talking about.

Yes, I will admit that the ending is fairly predictable. This is about the only thing in the movie I could really consider a disappointment, but it's not even that bad. The ending doesn’t really take anything away, especially from a popcorn flick like this. If I were watching something fancy or though-provoking, I’d want the ending to have more of a twist, but oh well. I still like the movie.

My favorite quotes in The Hot Chick are: “Come on guys, stop dickin around!”, and "Oh my God, my first boner!" is another good one.



The music in the movie was alright. It was all current music during the time the movie was made (most of it anyway). Some songs I recall are “Shake It Fast” from Mystikal, there was "I'd Do Anything" by Simple Plan, and “From AM to PM” by Christina Milian.

Other non-interesting information includes: the movie was filmed by Tom Brady, was written by Tom Brady and Rob Schneider, was released in theaters on December 13, 2002, and was released on VHS/DVD on May 13, 2003.

♠ Overall and Recommendations ♠

Overall, I think The Hot Chick is a funny movie that gets 4 stars from me. I think part of the reason I’m giving the movie such a high rating has to do with the fun time I had watching it in D.C. But I also find a lot of the humor in the movie my type of humor (which is a bit twisted :)). I’m sure I’ll get sick of this movie sometime, but not any time real soon.

The plot in this movie is pretty original, the acting is good, and the humor is great.

I’d recommend this movie to people ages 13 and up. The movie’s rating is PG-13 for crude and sexual humor, language, and drug references. Yes, there is a lot of sexual humor (as for nudity you will see Schneider’s caboose twice), the language isn’t too bad, and I don’t remember any drug references. Some adults might like The Hot Chick, but only if they’re not against teenage sexual/potty humor.

I wouldn’t say that The Hot Chick is a must-see, but if you have some time to kill on a Friday night, go give this flick a try.

Thanks for reading.


Recommended:
Yes

Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older