Get Over It (2001)

Get Over it is perfectly exemplifies the phrase “Timing is everything.” If the movie had been released a few months earlier (or a few months later) it might have been a box office hit.  The studio dumped it off into theatres in March of 2001 and it was met with complete indifference by its target audience, teenagers.  Just months earlier, this same audience had made Bring It On (also starring Kirsten Dunst) a smash hit, but now they couldn’t careless.  It died instantly at the box office (grossing a paltry $19 million worldwide against a 22 million budget) and quickly faded into obscurity. This cycle of teenage movies had worn itself out and audiences would begin to crave bigger and better things; the releases of Harry Potter and the Sorceror’s Stone and Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring at the end of the year would mark the beginning of studios pumping their money into popular franchises.

The pity is that Get Over It is easily the most imaginatively directed out of the teen movies and is blessed with a ridiculously overqualified cast.  The main problem Get Over It has to overcome is R. Lee Fleming, Jr.’s hackneyed script.  Fleming is not only content with stealing from other movies, but from himself as well – he wrote the screenplay to She’s All That.  For instance, in She’s All That, Zack’s girlfriend dumps him for a former reality TV star and in Get Over It, Berke’s girlfriend dumps him and hooks up with a former member of a boy band; who has transferred to their  high school.  The script isn’t exactly brimming with originality.  It also share a few plot points with Bring It On; in that movie Torrance (Dunst) falls in love with her best friend’s brother, Cliff,  while it  Get Over It  Berke falls in love with his best friend’s sister, Kelly (played by Dunst). In Bring It On,  Cliff  gives Torrance a cassette tape which contains a punk song he wrote for her; this cheers her up during her darkest hour.  In Get Over It, Berke buys Kelly a tape recorder (to help her with her song writing) and records a "I Believe in You" message on a cassette tape. This inspires Kelly to throw out Dr. Oates terrible song and perform one that she has specifically written for the school musical. Though, I would chalk that up to coincidence as Get Over It went into production before Bring It On was released. Get Over It also continued the trend of adapting classic plays into teen comedies; She’s All That (Pygmalion), Ten Things I Hate About You (The Taming of the Shrew), Whatever It Takes (Cyrano de Bergerac), and She’s the Man (Twelfth Night).   In Get Over It, Berke, in a vain attempt to win back his ex-girlfriend Allison, is cast in a supporting role in the high school’s musical adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and is shocked to learn the play parallels his own situation.   

This brings me to the other flaw of Get Over It – the lead character Berke is completely unlikable. When Berke isn’t obsessing over Allison, he is feeling sorry for himself.  Sure, it sucks that his girlfriend dumped him, but it’s extremely annoying that whenever Kelly wants to have a genuine conversation he, inevitably, has to bring up Allison.  The other moment that drives me nuts is after Kelly gives him a short summary of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, he promptly starts packing up his gear to leave.  When Kelly points out they have just got started, Berke replies, “No offense, Kelly. I’m not trying to win an Oscar, I just want my girlfriend back.” GET OVER IT, MAN!   In order for Berke to work as a character you need an extremely charismatic actor in the role and, unfortunately, Ben Foster is not that guy. Berke is the kind of role that John Cusack and Michael J. Fox could play in their sleep, but Ben Foster’s more intense style of acting is often at odds with the character. It doesn’t help that he is forced to utter lines like, “I can handle that Backstreet bitch.”  

 Foster isn’t terrible and there are few moments where his understated performance actually works;  there’s one moment where his “understanding” mother suggest they go for yogurt and then adds, “Or maybe Berke wants to go home and polish the rocket.”
Berke, with a look of disgust on his face, answers, “Yogurt’s good.” 

I especially like the piano scene between Berke and Kelly; Kelly is playing a tune she wrote, on the school piano, and Berke sits down next to her.  She is too embarrassed to play the song for Berke, so he cheers her up by playing the “A.B.Cs” and she eventually joins in. There is genuine chemistry between the leads and it’s nice that it is Berke cheering Kelly up for once instead of the other way around. It’s not surprising to learn that this scene wasn’t in Fleming’s original script and was a result of reshoots (this is noticeable in that Dunst’s hair is dyed red in this scene, as she was filming Spider-Man at the time).  In fact, you will find that some of the movie's best scenes were either adlibs or rewrites.  It is almost like director Tommy O’ Haver realized the script was garbage and did whatever he could to salvage this mess, but more on that later. 

Kirsten Dunst is likable as Kelly; and is far better than the material she is given.  Kelly is also another example of Fleming’s limitations as a screenwriter; in She’s All That, Laney’s defining feature was that she was an aspiring artist, while in Get Over It, Kelly’s defining feature is that she is an aspiring songwriter.  It’s a role that doesn’t deserve an actress like Dunst, but she gives it her absolute all.

 
As mentioned before, Kirsten Dunst starred in the cheerleading comedy Bring It On and it’s interesting to compare that movie’s screenplay (written by Jessica Bendinger) to Fleming’s screenplay for Get Over It.  In Bring It On, Torrance’s main focus is to get her cheerleading squad back on track, despite all the misfortunes that have befallen her; everything else is secondary, including her potential romance with Cliff.  In Get Over It, Kelly’s main focus is on winning the love of Berke, even though she is one of the leads in the high school play. It’s established early on that Kelly has a crush on Berke and views the musical (and Allison dumping him) as a chance to make her move.  She’s willing to, potentially, sabotage the high school music just so she can win over Berke; she opts to sing a song she has written instead of the number written by Dr. Desmond Forrest Oates (“Pocketful of Dreams”).  Later on, Berke returns Kelly’s gesture by changing to ending of the play so that his character ends up with hers.  This a good example of movie logic vs. real world logic: In the movie, everyone is charmed by this gesture of love, while in real life the cast members and crew would absolutely be livid that the two leads were going off script.
 

 Dr. Desmond Forrest Oates is portrayed as a narcissistic asshole, yet even he is touched by Kelly’s song.  Kelly is the ideal woman: beautiful, intelligent, and extremely loyal.  The problem is there’s no reason for these two characters to end up together other than that it’s in the script. There is also the time element which the movie kind of glosses over; in the beginning we are shown people auditioning for the play and the movie ends on opening night, which means a few months have passed.  That means for the last couple of months Berke has been pining over Allison, while Kelly has taken it in stride.  Why? A more satisfying ending would be Kelly realizing Berke is not worth her time and focusing on her performance in the stage. Why should she have to prove herself to him any ways?  Granted, this type of writing is on par with most teen comedies, but given the cast and the director, it would have been nice to see a different approach to the material. 

On the other hand, Allison is definitely a step up from Taylor, the ex-girlfriend in She’s All That.
In She’s All That, Taylor (Jodi Lyn O’ Keefe) is an irredeemable bitch that treats everyone around her like garbage, while Allison is a much more sympathetic character. It is clear that she regrets hurting Berke’s feeling, but she also realizes that it’s time to move on; their relationship has lost its spark and she has been going through the motions for sometime.  In She’s All That, Taylor cheats on Zack with an obnoxious reality TV star while on Spring Break and rather nonchalantly breaks up with him.  Allison meets Bentley ‘Striker” Scrumfeld after she has broken up with Berke and starts to date because “he’s different.”  She isn’t a malicious person; though I question her going to a party at Berke’s house, with her new boyfriend, after she has dumped him.  It’s a huge inconsistency in the character; things are already awkward enough between her and Berke, so why escalate it even further?  Was Allison originally written as a one dimensional bitch? Or did Fleming always intend her to be a more sympathetic character?  It’s also hard to believe that a sweet natured person like Allison could ever fall for a complete cad like ‘Striker.’  In She’s All That, it makes sense that a bitchy, superficial person like Taylor would fall for a total sleazebag like Brock Hudson, but someone as intelligent as Allison would easily see through ‘Striker’s’ act.  

This brings me to my favorite performance in the movie; Shane West as Bentley ‘Striker’ Scrumfeld.  Shane West talks in a bad British accent the entire movie and it goes from being mildly amusing to dreadfully unfunny to absolutely hilarious; it does a complete 360. Most movies would have a scene where the character drops the accent and talks in his normal voice, but West absolutely commits to it. It is absolutely amazing!  Seriously though, West is a lot fun as the arrogant, pretentious ‘Striker,’ and is perfect foil for Foster’s Berke.  He is such a raging douche that even Berke comes off well by comparison. 

Striker is also responsible for the most unintentionally laughable moment:  When Allison catches him making out with her best friend Maggie. This happens mere seconds after Berke tries to tell Allison that Striker was hitting on Kelly, but Allison will not listen.  She walks away, opens a door, and there’s Striker making out with Maggie; mere seconds after he was hitting on Kelly. This is a scene that could easily have been shortened by having Allison witness Striker’s advances towards Kelly; she  would then storm out of the house and Striker would following attempting to explain himself. Instead, we are fed the same piece of information twice: Striker is two timing asshole.  Maggie barely registers as a character that it’s hard to feel anything towards her; she is neither sympathetic nor detestable. Maggie is one of Zoe Saldana’s earliest roles and, thankfully, she has gone onto better things, because she is completely ill served by the script.  

The wild card in the entire cast is Martin Short as drama teacher/musical director, Dr. Desmond Forrest Oates.  Whether you find Short funny or not, he does bring an unpredictable to the proceedings that this movie desperately needs.  According to O’Haver on the commentary, the look on confusion on the cast’s faces was genuine; they didn’t know what to make of Martin Short. My favorite Desmond Forrest Oates bit is when Kelly thanks him for casting her as Helena, he replies, “Me thinks thou best not botch it.” It’s an energetic performance and Short really gives a boost to an otherwise routine script. Oates is a rude, egotistically asshole who genuinely believes that his musical adaption of A Midsummer Night’s Dream is an improvement on Shakespeare’s original; when Kelly suggest making changes to one of his songs, by incorporating lines from Shakespeare’s play, he is absolutely appalled. He never offers genuine direction to his actors; after Kelly has finished rehearsing her song number he tells her that it was “terrible.” 

The movie’s biggest asset is that is has Tommy O’ Haver as its director; his imaginative direction over breathes life into the stale material.  The opening is a great example of this; after Berke has been dumped by Allison, he walks down the street, carrying his box of belongings, in a dejected state. A more conventional movie would have Berke look screen right, see a couple holding hands, sigh, and then walk out of frame. O’ Haver turns into in a musical number: As Berke is walking in the middle of frame, we see Vitamin C and her band emerge from a garage, screen left, singing the Captain & Tennille song “Love Will Keep Us Together” and the begin to follow him.  Then old couple emerges into frame and starts dancing. They are following by a pair of newly weds.  Then a mailman and a female UPS driver start to dance with each other.  The scene finally escalates with a marching band walking into frame, along with a baton twirler, until finally Berke can’t take it anymore and screams.  It’s not only a fun scene, but it perfectly encapsulates Berke’s victim mindset – the entire world seems to be mocking him.  No matter where looks he is reminded of his time with Allison and it’s like being hit with a blunt instrument. What is more impressive is that this whole musical number is done in a single shot. As a result, we can see the frustration build on Berke’s face as the musical number continues.    

There are also a few Zucker Brother like gags scattered throughout the picture: in one scene Dennis asks a pretty classmate of his, Dora Lynn, if she will go out on a date with Berke. It is established that Dora Lynn is accident prone and missed six years of high school due to being in a coma. When Dennis approaches her, they are in shop class and Dora Lynn is holding a blow torch. When Dennis calls her name, she turns around, without turning off the blowtorch, and accidentally sets a classmate on fire. All chaos soon breaks lose. Again, this done in a single shot and we get to see the entire tragic scene unfold before our eyes. 

It also says a lot about O’ Haver that even the minor characters are fairly well defined; my favorite bit is when Peter Wong, Dr. Oates’ prized pupil, shows a look of concern on his face after he sees how blown away Dr. Oates is by Striker’s audition.  

 I also like Jeannie Calleja as Oates’ long suffering assistant, Jessica; who is doing her very best not to reach over and strangle the insufferable drama teacher.  Get Over It is loaded with interesting faces and I like that O’ Haver gives each of them a moment to shine. It is a shame he didn’t have a better script to work with, because the movie could have been a genuine classic (as opposed to being an agreeable experience). 

Credits
Cast: Kirsten Dunst (Kelly Woods), Ben Foster (Berke Landers), Martin Short (Dr. Desmond Forrest Oates), Melissa Sagemiller (Allison), Shane West (Bentley ‘Striker’ Scrumfeld), Colin Hanks (Felix Woods), Sisqo^’ (Dennis), Mila Kunis (Basin), Zoe Saldana (Maggie), Swoosie Kurtz (Beverly Landers), Ed Begley, Jr. (Frank Landers),  Jeanie Calleja (Jessica), Christopher Jacot (Peter Wong), Dov Tiefenbach (Little Steve), Kylie Bax (Dora Lynn), Vitamin C (Herself), Carmen Electra (Mistress Moira), Coolio (Himself).

Director: Tommy O’ Haver
Screenplay: R. Lee Fleming, Jr.
Running Time: 86 min.