REVIEW: The Outcasts Doesn’t Make the Grade

High school themed movies are not always an easy genre to take on. Some movies, like Mean Girls, knock it out of the park, while others, like The Outcasts, fall a little short. The movie follows Mindy (Eden Sher) and Jodi (Victoria Justice), two best friends just trying to survive their senior year, who decide to unite the outcasts in their high school together to take down the popular kids.

The basic premise is pretty solid, but the execution poor. The outcasts are a little too out there, like the kid who spend the entire movie in a cape because he loves anything and everything in the fantasy genre, while the popular kids fit the basic high school stereotype, jock, dumb, and/or rich. Things get really weird towards the end of the story with a twist that doesn’t make sense. The movie appears to be going one way and then does a complete 180. The twist changes the tone of the film which left me uncomfortable, but I will let you watch and decide.

Eden Sher and Victoria Justice lead the cast as Mindy and Jodi. Eden is wonderful as science wiz Mindy, while Victoria was a little harder to believe as Jodi. Not that Victoria didn’t do a good job acting wise but it’s hard to take Victoria seriously as a nerd or as an outcast at all.

Avan Jogia plays Victoria’s love interest, Dave and if you were a fan of Avan and Victoria’s “relationship” on their Nickelodeon show Victorious then this movie will leave you smiling for days. Other than that, Dave is essentially a plot piece used to advance Jodi’s story. Claudia Lee plays the school’s Queen Bee, Whitney and she shines in this part, while Ashley Rickards as overachiever Virginia will leave you wondering why this girl does not have more roles lined up in the future.

If you are looking for a movie to watch while you are at a sleepover with friends or a movie to watch just to pass the day away, this movie is for you.

Grade: C