 The Perfect Score has to do with S.A.T. tests, but it's getting some uncertain grades from critics. A.O. Scott in the New York Times writes that "the movie's combination of earnestness and cheek is likely to appeal to young people in need of relief from their post-holiday academic stress." But if that seems like a lukewarm endorsement, consider Roger Ebert's odd review in the Chicago Sun-Times, which uses the movie as a platform to rail against the plethora of challenging films available in the nation's multiplexes. Observing that The Perfect Score's plot is similar to a more provocative film called Better Luck Tomorrow that played in only a handful of art houses in 2002, Ebert concludes his review by writing: "The Perfect Score will play in hundreds of markets that were not open to Better Luck Tomorrow, even though it will only bore or fitfully distract its audiences, while Better Luck Tomorrow might have shaken them up. And that's a shame. What does it say when a dozen of the titles nominated for major Academy Awards this year did not play in a majority of the markets? Have I drifted from the movie under review? I'm not drifting, I'm swimming." |
