Get Over it 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 could care less. 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 Sorcerer’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 shares a few plot points with Bring It On; in that movie Torrance (Dunst) falls in love with her best friend’s
brother, Cliff, while in Get Over It, Berke falls in love with his best friend’s sister, Kelly (played by Dunst). In Bring It On, Clive 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 futile 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 keeps bringing up Allison. The other moment that drives me nuts is after
Kelly gives him a short summary of A
Midsummer Night’s Dream, Berke 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.”
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 is one scene 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.”
Berke, with a look of disgust on his face, answers, “Yogurt’s good.”
I also like the piano scene between Berke and Kelly. She 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 is 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 who 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 some time. 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.
In She’s All That, Taylor (Jodi Lyn O’ Keefe) is an irredeemable bitch who 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 some time. 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! West is a lot of 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. This is a scene that could easily have been
shortened by having Allison witness Striker’s advances towards Kelly; she could then storm out of the house and Striker
would chase after her, in a desperate attempt 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 often 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 they begin to follow him.
Then an old couple emerges into frame and starts dancing. They are
followed by a pair of newlyweds. 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).
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.
Screenplay: R. Lee Fleming, Jr.
Running Time: 86 min.
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