The dreaded SAT replaces Saturday-morning detention, winning the championship game and losing one’s virginity as the central focus of the latest coming-of-age comedy, ‘The Perfect Score.’

Unfortunately, the film, which follows six teens as they team up to steal the answers to the test, cheats its way through its 90-minute running time.

The storyline lacks originality, and the lead roles all take a stereotypical approach to the modern teenager. Screenwriters Marc Hyman (‘Osmosis Jones’), Jon Zack (‘Out Cold’) and Mark Schwahn (‘Whatever It Takes’) recycle scenes and characters straight from ‘Fast Times At Ridgemont High’ and ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.’ At one point, Scarlett Johansson’s Francesca even compares the group to ‘The Breakfast Club.’

If the movie’s youngsters are supposed to be modern-day versions of ‘The Breakfast Club’ cast, then Francesca stands out as the Ally Sheedy of the group. Johansson plays the ‘poor little rich girl,’ whose father would rather spend time dating women half his age than paying attention to her. Confiding in Kyle (Chris Evans, ‘Not Another Teen Movie’), she admits that ‘it’s the oldest story in the world.’ So, she decides to spice up her life by breaking into the building her dad owns and stealing the SAT exam from the Educational Testing Standards Office.

The rest of the kids all have their own reasons for participating in the scheme. Kyle dreams of getting his architecture degree from Cornell and not ending up like his deadbeat brother (played by Matthew Lillard). His best friend, Matty (Bryan Greenberg, TV’s ‘One Tree Hill’), hopes a high grade will ensure that he joins his girlfriend at the University of Maryland. Basketball phenom Desmond (Darius Miles, ‘Van Wilder’) needs a decent score to secure a scholarship to St. John’s. Salutatorian Anna (Erika Christensen, ‘Swimfan’) is panicked about not meeting her parents’ expectations. And class stoner Roy (Leonardo Nam, ‘Hacks’) just happens to be smoking a joint in the right place at the right time.

‘The Perfect Score,’ directed by Brian Robbins (‘Varsity Blues’), only gets more predictable as it winds towards its inevitably happy ending. The characters, generalized in the script as ‘The Good Girl’ or ‘The Stoner,’ spend that time bonding with one another, making out and learning valuable and cheesy lessons about life and friendship. In addition, the screenwriters drop in some unnecessary dream sequences (Francesca’s fantasy about being Trinity from ‘The Matrix’ is a tired spoof that has been done to death) and standard stoner humor. And when Desmond comments that the SATs are racist, the film quickly drops the subject when Roy makes a joke that ‘middle-class Asian girls who watch less than an hour of television a day’ do best on the exam.

However, the laugh-out-loud performance from Nam turns out to be the film’s saving grace. Throughout, Nam shows outstanding comedic timing and manages to wring laughs out of even the most tired dialogue and situations. In one scene, when Roy winds up talking to Desmond’s mom after calling for a ride, Nam struggles to hide that he’s stoned by using big words, then tells her she has a ‘youthful and attractive phone voice.’ Later, Kyle gives a serious speech to the group, but the camera chooses to focus on Roy, who has taken the opportunity to check out Francesca’s breasts, his face twisted in a naughty grin.

The rest of the cast does a decent job with their cookie-cutter characters. Johansson gets to deliver some snappy dialogue as Francesca, and she seems to relish every witty remark. At one point, Anna confesses that she’s uncomfortable with the group’s plan. Francesca fires back, ‘You sure do look comfortable in your Old Navy cotton pullover.’ Christensen makes the neurotic Anna likeable and literally comes to life on-screen as her character sheds her inhibitions. And Evans, with his earnest delivery of the dialogue, serves the film well as its ringleader with a heart of gold.

‘The Perfect Score,’ while receiving high marks for Nam’s breakout performance, deserves a low score for failing to taking a fresh approach to a stale story.

Christopher Reilly is a senior magazine major. His reviews appear Fridays in the Daily Orange. E-mail him at cgreily@syr.edu.

Published on January 29, 2004 at 12:00 pm