Down To You

The latest entry in the never-ending parade of teen-oriented movies is Down To You. All of the characteristics are there. The story is about teenagers in love. The cast contains the interchangeable attractive young stars seen in other similar movies (Selma Blair, Freddie Prinze, Jr., Julia Stiles...). Blaring through most of the movie is a radio friendly soundtrack with established and unknown bands. Most importantly, the movie isn't that good. However, the movie does give points for taking the story out of high school, into college and beyond. For once, the stars play characters closer to their actual ages. Everything else about the movie screams conventional.

At the beginning of their college experiences, Al (Prinze, She's All That, I Know What You Did Last Summer) meets Imogen (Stiles, The Devil's Own, 10 Things I Hate About You), and the two get together. The getting together parts take up much of the first part of the movie. The two have artificial conversations that can only exist in movies, and feel that they are made for each other. Al wants to become a chef like his father Ray (Henry Winkler, The Waterboy, Scream) and Imogen aspires to be an artist. When they are together, they get tingly feelings that must be love. Unfortunately, everyone around them is jaded, and feels that things will not last. Especially Al's friends Cyrus (Blair, Cruel Intentions, the WB's Zoe) and Monk (Zak Orth, Snow Falling on Cedars, In & Out), who just happen to be porn stars. Al's other friend Hicks (Shawn Hatosy, Anywhere But Here, Simpatico) feels the same, but also longs to have a relationship as stable as the one between Al and Imogen. Hatosy, for the most part, managed to stay above the fray and act in worthwhile movies, but he proves here that he can be just as bad as any of the other actors.

Writer/director Kris Isacsson never reaches, nor does he seem to want to reach far above his target audience, young girls. The structure of Down To You allows Prinze and Stiles to address the camera, allowing many full screen headshots of the two, especially Prinze, whose smile is sure to make the girls swoon. Well into their relationship, something happens between Al and Imogen that causes them to break up and reconsider things. Al then realizes what a mistake he made, and wishes that Imogen would return to him. In their introspection, Al and Imogen actually show a hint of maturity, which is surprising given the rest of the movie. If not for this, and the fact that the characters are out of high school, Down To You would be another clone instead of slightly rising above.

Haro Rates It: Not That Good.
1 hour, 37 minutes, Rated PG-13 for mature thematic material, sexual content, language, drug, and alcohol use.

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