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Mischa Barton, Reece Daniel Thompson, Bruce Willis, Michael Rapaport, Kathryn Morris ... see more see more... , Melonie Diaz , Josh Pais , Luke Grimes , Patrick James Taylor , Aaron Himelstein , Joe Perrino , John Magaro , Robin Lord Taylor , Vincent Piazza , Tanya Fischer , Zöe Kravitz , Marc John Jefferies , Michael Zegen , Zachary Booth

A teenage take on Roman Polanski's post-noir classic Chinatown, The Sophomore stars Reece Daniel Thompson, Mischa Barton, and Bruce Willis in the tale of a Catholic high-school newspaper reporter who ... read more read more...stumbles upon a disturbing conspiracy. Prompted by the most popular girl in school to investigate the theft of the SAT exams, an ambitious young fact-finder discovers that the school's president -- a disillusioned Gulf War veteran -- and the top jock are responsible for the crime. As if this information wasn't unsettling enough, it appears that both have been operation under the direction of an even higher power. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

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40% liked it

98,896 ratings

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50% liked it

10 critics

R, 1 hr. 33 min.

Directed by: Brett Simon

Release Date: January 17, 2008

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DVD Release Date: October 6, 2009

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Kathryn Morris (Cold Case) Reece Thompson & Mischa Barton Reece Thompson & Mischa Barton Mischa Barton Assassination of a High School President Kathryn Morris (Cold Case) Assassination of a High School President Cheerleaders on roller blades! Melonie Diaz Melonie Diaz Assassination of a High School President Francesca Fachini Assassination of a High School President :* Assassination of a High School President Assassination of a High School President Assassination of a High School President Assassination of a High School President
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Flixster Reviews (1,681)

  • blkbomb
    May 15, 2012
    blkbomb
    Clara: Forget it, Funke. It's high school. 

    "Politics, popularity, paranoia, pharmaceuticals. Are you in?"

    Assassination of a High School President is a really cool film in my opinion. It blurs the line between a typical set in high school movie and a noir; like Brick, but not ... read morenearly as serious. It doesn't take long to find out that this is using movies like Chinatown and All the Presidents Men for material. There's a lot of dialogue, references, and scenes that tell us just that. I liked the movie for that. It took serious conspiracy stories and threw them in a high school setting with a lot of stuff we would find familiar. The standard high school movie plot devices and characters that is.

    We are given a main character, Funke. He is a geek; unliked and unknown. He's also a writer for the school newspaper, although he has yet to write a single article. When the SAT's go missing, he finds who he thinks is the culprit and writes a story on him. The person he fingers is none other than the high school president. Soon, like in many other high school set films, the geek has been reborn as a "cool" kid and he's banging the hottest chick in school. From there the story keeps developing and the conspiracy widens and widens. It almost seems serious, except that it isn't. We're reminded of that by characters that take every serious situation and make it into a joke and by Bruce Willis who plays the principle in such a ridiculous and comical way.

    This isn't a great movie by any standards and I can see why many people didn't like it. It didn't really do anything original or noteworthy, but it seems like everyone involved thinks it is original. But all it is is a movie that has been done before thrown into a new setting. With that said, I loved it. There was nothing about it that I didn't like. I thought it was funny, well thought out, and smart in a stupid way. I liked the references and I didn't think there was a bad scene in the movie. Plus I couldn't stop laughing at the party scene where they are playing pong and a kid says "I got winner" and collapses onto the table, is then picked up and says he wants another toothpaste cigarette. It's funnier if you watch it, I swear. 

    All in all, this movie really surprised me. I didn't expect it to be nearly as fun or good as it was. Most of that came because of the lackluster reviews, but part of it was my own guess. I was wrong and I am really glad I took a chance on it. It's a movie I couldn't help falling in love with and I'm sure I will watch it many times in the future and get the same kick out of it I did the first time around.
  • romy861
    February 3, 2012
    romy861
    Quite dark for a movie set in high school. Some of the humour falls flat as it's a little too dark and verging on bad taste (i.e, the comatose girlfriend on the sofa), but mostly it works and is an entertaining use of an hour and a half.
    Mischa Barton I found not too bad in this... read more. Not saying she is the best actress in the world, but she does suit this part well as the manipulative, popular girl, Bruce Willis is really hammy - it is the role, but even so, found him a little over the top (I am never really a fan, though, so take from that what you will!).
    There's quite a bit happening in this story, so it does require some concentration (the first time I started watching it, I was doing something else and I couldn't follow it at all and thought it was crap). However, second time around with full attention, I did find I liked this more. It is quite a quirky and clever little film, although, possibly not quite as much as it thinks it is... still, pretty good, give it a go!
  • LWOODS04
    December 20, 2009
    LWOODS04
    REESE THOMPSON, BRUCE WILLIS, MISCHA BARTON, LUKE GRIMES, MELONIE DIAZ, MICHAEL RAPAPORT

    Forget it, Jake. It's...high school. With its noir roots, this stylish dark comedy pays homage to Roman Polanski's CHINATOWN. Reece Thompson (ROCKET SCIENCE) stars as a school newspaper wr... read moreiter who uncovers a conspiracy that is rampant among the students and teachers. Mischa Barton (THE O.C.) plays the young femme fatale, while Bruce Willis is an unhinged principal.
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Loved this movie. Had a lot of odd characters that were very hilarious. Something I will definitely be watching again. Bruce Willis was very funny as the Principle who has this huge annoyance with kids chewing gum during school hours, to the point were he will literally take it out of your mouth. I really don't care to much for Mischa Barton, but she wasn't to bad in this movie. First time seeing a movie with Reese Thompson. Thought he was great. Read some things about how this movie is like the film 'Brick'. I have seen Brick and so I would have to disagree. I can only see one resemblance to both movie's. I won't name what it is so I don't spoil either movie for anyone else. But besides that I don't see any other resemblance. Brick is more of a suspense drama, and this film is more a dark comedy. Neither one should be missed though. Both are great movies.
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Bobby Funke Narrating:
    "You want to know the truth about high school? You've got to break it down into its elements. Unfortunately, at St. Donovan's, the periodic table is more crooked than a case of scoliosis. Just give me the chance and I'll set it all straight. Case in point, Spanish homework. "Dame un batido de esperma" does not mean, "Take me to the airport." It means, "Give me a sperm milkshake." And 22 kids gave that as an answer in Spanish 3 last week. I'm not sure about the milkshake, but somebody is sure feeding us something sticky. Every clique on campus is copying the same damn homework. Burn-outs, pretty boys, drama-dorks, jocks, debaters, player-haters, you name it. Oh, it's big, all right. And I'm on it like pink rubber bands on your little sister's braces. The name's Bobby Funke. I write for the paper."
  • YLOWBSTARDreturns
    November 26, 2009
    YLOWBSTARDreturns
    A great concept blandly executed. Kind of seemed like a "BRICK" for dummies.

    Some successful humour and clever twists and turns are worth noting, but they are more than evenly matched by unfunny gags, weak acting and writting (in spots), and ofcourse Mischa Brton.
  • neverteaseaweasel
    November 18, 2009
    neverteaseaweasel
    Well, Assassination of a High School President is flinty, funny, and clever. Really, its enjoyible to watch all around. Idk, I just never completely fell for it. I never would have thought that Bruce WIllis would be in a movie that was actually good.... It reminded me a lot of Br... read moreick; but that is also part fo the problem with the film. Its not exactly Brick and its not exactly Rushmore or Thirteen, but I had a constant sense that I've seen this before. It really is not original at all. However, its fun and mildly off-color. Go, Watch it, laugh a bit, then move on. Assassination of a High School President is really pretty good, but its not going to stick with you; and really, I guess that's fine.
  • LorenzoVonMatterhorn
    October 23, 2009
    LorenzoVonMatterhorn
    "Politics, popularity, paranoia, pharmaceuticals. Are you in?"

    At a Catholic high school, the popular girl teams up with a sophomore newspaper reporter to investigate a case of stolen SAT exams. Once the duo target their suspects, a larger conspiracy is unearthed.

    ... read morer>REVIEW
    It's the coming-of-age of a gum-chewing gumshoe, from geek to sleek, in the 'meanhalls' of the school that never sleeps. And as such, it's one hilarious genre-spoof that actually works on all levels, the kind that when you're not laughing out right you're grinning from ear to ear. I'd even say it drives a stake thru Twi'blight, especially in regards to the hyper-true-love-of-the-super-mature-movie-teens.

    I loved the 'school as prison' backdrop- Shawshank meets Hamlet 2 sort of thing, but neither over-the-top nor under-fed. The bad guys are neither psychotic nor one-dimensional while the good guys (and gal), well, they're not angels and this, again, is pitch-perfect and so refreshing compared to the usual Hollywood polarization.. and kudos on the editing, the dialogue, the pace - everything really.

    One questionable casting choice however is Mischa Barton. I can't seem to come up with a better alternative and she is OK but nothing more -as opposed to the rest of the cast. She seems to have some kind of acting-facial-paralysis, very noticeable in her last scene, and for her sake, I hope she learns to transcend this botox-haze she shares with Kirsten Dunst among others. But this is truly a minor (possible) blemish in an otherwise awesome little movie where the whodunit is somewhat gratuitous but then, you wouldn't want it any other way.
  • allan913
    October 21, 2009
    allan913
    A gut-bustingly hilarious dark comedy that packs of so many laughs that you ahve to see it twice and plenty of twist and turns. A must-see flick that is wickedly entertaining and totally original. It's sharp, stylish, twisted and frequently outragious. A fun-house of huge laughs ... read moreand a great cast that are having plenty of fun. Bruce Willis is intensely hilarious, he gives a great and endlessly hystericall performance that you will love him in. A high school comedy with attitude.
  • jjnxn
    October 17, 2009
    jjnxn
    Inert, dark comedy that strives too hard to be hip and ends up being ordinary.
  • gator681
    September 10, 2010
    gator681
    In "Assassination of a High School President," Bobby Funke(Reece Daniel Thompson) has dreams of getting a scholarship to the prestigious summer journalism school at Northwestern University. The only problem with this is that he does not currently write for the school newspaper b... read moreut feels a profile of school president Paul Moore(Patrick Taylor), with the help of Paul's girlfriend Francesca(Mischa Barton), will get him the much needed attention. First, however, the SAT's are stolen with Principal Kirkpatrick(Bruce Willis) out for blood. Funke does some more digging and breaks the cardinal rule of journalism forbidding using stuffed unicorns to elicit information to unmask the culprit...

    I know I am not the first person to unfavorably compare "Assassination of a High School President" to the superior "Brick," even if it is slightly unfair since Funke is the only one who feels like he is in a detective movie. That's not to mention the movie references which include "Chinatown," "The Usual Suspects" and possibly "The Caine Mutiny" which pushes "Assassination of a High School President" uncomfortably towards parody. It is a shame and unnecessary because when it hits its eccentric stride(led by an uncharacteristically unhinged performance from Bruce Willis), it is actually quite fun to watch. That's not to mention its keen observations of high school life where the only thing worse than being at the low end of the social ladder is to be at the top.
  • xas5
    April 10, 2011
    xas5
    "Assassination" has a few important and unique things going for it. The writing is the first thing you recognize. With the main character also narrating the film, some of the voice overs are so uniquely written, you cannot help but keep watching. The other achievement is the mish... read more-mash of cast. There are unknowns mixed with big stars and they all come together brilliantly. I started the film because of my love for the actress Emily Meade, and though she only graced the screen for about 2 minutes, I still stuck it out. The plot of the film is rather mulled over, but there is so much character and eccentricity that it is easy to let the story slide to the wayside.

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Critic Reviews

Cliff Doerksen
February 2, 2010
Cliff Doerksen, Chicago Reader

The noir pastiche is sitcom-ish, the characters vestigial, and the satire of high school so compromised I wondered if cowriters Tim Calpin and Kevin Jakubowski weren't home-schooled Full Review

Stephen Farber
January 25, 2008
Stephen Farber, Hollywood Reporter

Doesn't find enough novel insights to make for essential viewing.

Justin Chang
January 25, 2008
Justin Chang, Variety

Basically Brick for remedial viewers. Full Review

Prairie Miller
October 4, 2009
Prairie Miller, NewsBlaze

Superbad meets grossout noir, boasting tangy teen dirty talk so thick, you could cut it with a well sharpened pencil. Which by the way, somebody does more than once. Full Review

Jason McKiernan
October 1, 2009
Jason McKiernan, Filmcritic.com

The entire film wants to be a carbon copy of Rushmore, with the addition of dark slickness and the omission of general quality. Full Review

Patrick Z. McGavin
October 18, 2008
Patrick Z. McGavin, Screen International

Brett Simon's Assassination of a High School President is a small and pleasant surprise. Full Review

Larry Carroll
May 19, 2008
Larry Carroll, MTV

The flick plays like "Rushmore" meets "The Usual Suspects," alongside shout-outs to everything from "Sixteen Candles" to "Chinatown" to "Fast Times at Ridgemont High." Full Review

Jamie Tipps
January 29, 2008
Jamie Tipps, Film Threat

Depending on your personal taste, the following statement may make or break Assassination for you: the movie is cute. Full Review

James Rocchi
January 29, 2008
James Rocchi, Cinematical

Assassination has a meandering plot line that dithers when it should drive forward, and lingers at times it should leap ahead. Full Review

Edward Douglas
January 22, 2008
Edward Douglas, ComingSoon.net

Brett Simon's clever high school noir debut is more Heathers than John Hughes Full Review

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