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The New Guy Details

2002 Certificate 12
  • Rated:
  • 60
  • from 1557 members

THE NEW GUY is an energetic, sweet-natured comedy that gleefully discombobulates the unfortunate social class system that has plagued high schools since the beginning of time. Teenager Dizzy Harrison (DJ Qualls) is the laughing stock of Texas' Rocky Creek High School. But his loser status changes when he lands a prison sentence .. Read more

Starring Eddie Griffin, Lyle Lovett, DJ Qualls, Eliza Dushku
Director Edward Decter
Genres Comedy

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The New Guy

THE NEW GUY is an energetic, sweet-natured comedy that gleefully discombobulates the unfortunate social class system that has plagued high schools since the beginning of time. Teenager Dizzy Harrison (DJ Qualls) is the laughing stock of Texas' Rocky Creek High School. But his loser status changes when he lands a prison sentence and falls under the tutelage of a wild inmate, Luther (Eddie Griffin), who gives him a crash course in "coolness." Upon his release, he enrolls at East Highland High and puts his plan into effect. Surprisingly, the new-and-improved Gil Harris becomes an overnight sensation, winning the affections of a beautiful cheerleader, Danielle (Eliza Dushku), in addition to the entire student body. But when Danielle's bitter ex-boyfriend discovers Gil's secret, Gil must own up to his past life and risk losing his newfound popularity in the process.
Ed Decter's surprisingly sensitive romp through the cruel halls of high school boasts engaging performances by its young stars (most notably, the quirky Qualls and soon-to-be-superstar Zooey Deschanel), as well as a freewheeling soundtrack that ranges from hip-hop to rock to classic funk to eighties pop. A seemingly endless onslaught of musician cameos, from Jermaine Dupri to Henry Rollins to Vanilla Ice to Tommy Lee, only adds to the comic energy.

Starring Eddie Griffin, Lyle Lovett, DJ Qualls, Eliza Dushku, Geoffrey Lewis, Zooey Deschanel, Illeanna Douglas, Ameer Harris, Sunny Mabrey, Jared Mixon, Ross Patterson, Parry Shen, Henry Rollins, Tony Hawk, Tommy Lee, Gene Simmons, Koo
Director Edward Decter
Studio SONY PICTURES HOME ENTERTAINMENT
Run time DVD: 1 hr 25 mins
Certificate Certificate 12
Genres Comedy
Language DVD: English
Hearing-impaired English
Subtitles DVD: Arabic, Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Dutch, English, Greek, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Polish, Russian, Slovene, Turkish
Released DVD: 10 Mar 2003
Production year: 2002
Format DVD
  • Critics' reviews (5) of The New Guy

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  • 1 stars out of 5

    Roadtrip's DJ Qualls plays the nerd again in this excruciating teen comedy. Directed by There's Something about Mary co-writer Ed Decter, the film is a formulaic jumble of crass visual gags, limp dialogue and social stereotyping in the Scary Movie mould. Qualls plays drippy senior Dizzy, who reinvents himself as the epitome of high-school cool and, of course, gets the hottest girl (Eliza Dushku) with the assistance of a black convict with attitude. It's blatantly unfunny and infuriatingly repetitious, underscoring its faults with a saccharine ending that patronisingly proclaims “it's OK to be an outcast”. Decter works overtime to raise a laugh and give his project some teen kudos, littering the wafer-thin plot with lame movie parodies and pointless rock star cameos. But when the only humour among a tide of human waste and sexual innuendos comes from Lyle Lovett getting a flaming marshmallow in the eye, you know he's failed miserably.

    • Radio Times
  • "...Qualls moves his marionette body around with a true clown's effervescence, and he does rubber-faced parodies of youth cool that are just what youth cool deserves..."

    • Entertainment Weekly
  • Most helpful member's review of The New Guy

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  • 7 out of 10 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 1 star

    American Pie it ain't

    Utterly dismal - not even slightly funny. Was this written by a computer? It ticks all the usual boxes of the US Teen coming-of age formula. Doubtless the men in suits thought this would make them some money, but it is totally uninspired. The portrayal of dwarfs and fat people (I'm neither) presumably was supposed to be 'Un-PC', with a 'its OK, we don't mean it' tacked onto the end, but it comes across as just plain nasty. Don't waste your brain on this one.

      • Stephen from London
  • Most recent members' review of The New Guy

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  • 2 out of 2 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 4 stars

    quirky

    Strange teen comedy this as all the lead actors are ugly... Nevermind this has an excellent story, and more than a few nice set-pieces. Including a rip-off of Braveheart, and if you are scottish you will truly appreciate it. Highly recommended.

      • A customer from Aberdeen, Scotland
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Rating breakdown

1,557 Member ratings
  • 100
171
  • 90
121
  • 80
211
  • 70
225
  • 60
290
  • 50
174
  • 40
151
  • 30
86
  • 20
84
  • 10
44

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    • THE NEW GUY is an energetic, sweet-natured comedy that gleefully discombobulates the unfortunate social class system that has plagued high schools since the beginning of time. Teenager Dizzy Harrison ...