The New Guy

Movie Title: The New Guy	[Ads/google-ads3.htm]
Official Website (it might still work): The New Guy
Rating (out of 10): 8
Reviewed By: Michael Stevens
Buy the: Video/DVD \| Soundtrack
The Review:

A Zero Will Rise. That’s what The New Guy promises to deliver. And that is exactly what this film delivers, in more ways than one. Metaphorically speaking, my expectations of this comedy going in to it were about zero and those expectations rose as the film progressed. Then with the story, a nobody rises up to throw off his oppressors.

The zero in this case is high school student Dizzy Harrison (DJ Qualls of Road Trip), a scrawny white kid who thinks he has soul. Throughout Dizzy’s education he has been little more than a blink on the cool kids’ radar. Dizzy’s friends Glen (Parry Shen), Nora (Zooey Deschanel, Almost Famous), and Kirk (Jerod Mixon from Me, Myself & Irene) are also school nobodies, but they do play together in a funk band. After a very embarrassing and painful experience, Dizzy decides he needs a new school and image, so he gets help from inmate Luther (Eddie Griffin from John Q) on his transformation. Soon Dizzy gets kicked out of Rock Creek High and moves to Highland High where he becomes cool kid Gil Harris and dates the popular and hot Danielle (Eliza Dushku). However, he still has to deal with a nemesis (Danielle’s ex) in tough guy Connor (Ross Paterson) at his new school. Meanwhile he is helping the football team win games for the first time in five years as the mascot. After a while things get tricky for Gil/Dizzy when he alienates his old friends and gets the bully Barclay (Ameer Harris) from his old school pissed off at him. Can Gil survive, and will anyone still like him after the truth of who he really is comes out? These questions and more answered in the theater!

Other cast folk in this Ed Decter directed flick are Lyle Lovett as Dizzy’s dad, Laura Clifton, Kurt Fuller (Scary Movie), Bryan Shy, Avery Waddell, and Charles Allen Hutchison. The New Guy also has a crap load of cameos from the likes of KISS’s Gene Simmons, rocker Tommy Lee, skateboarder Tony Hawk, and even Vanilla Ice.

This is, despite preconceived notions, a very funny film. Of course, most of the humor is low brow and slapstick, but it is still hilarious. There’s even a little bit of a message to the film. The acting could have been better, but I still give it eight couches out of ten.