good back-story, and good acting
I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.
View MoreOne of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.
View MoreStory: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.
"Foreign Exchange" (2008) is a high school comedy in the manner of 1999's "American Pie," but with a lower budget. I'm not a fan of "American Pie" or 2001's "Not Another Teen Movie" simply because they're too raunchy for my tastes; but that's just me. "Foreign Exchange" has quite a bit of raunch too and, in fact, begins with a scene of a teen masturbating in bed, but it's arguably not as bad as those other movies on this front.While all these films exaggerate the teen years for comedic purposes, do they - generally speaking - reflect real life? The answer is yes, which is WHY they're funny. For instance, do many teen dudes masturbate in bed to a photo of a babe? Of course. Now, this isn't likely something you want to SEE, but the film's making light of those fun-but-awkward teen years. Furthermore, despite a brief scene of three girls flashing their breasts, the sleaze is all talk or, at best, implied. And isn't that also the way it is in high school, except for the neighborhood Fonz (i.e ultra-cool guy who gets all the babes)? Jay (Randy Wayne) fits this description in the film and, less so, Shantz (Daniel Booko). And then there's the hardaxx principal of the school. I had one of those - a former Marine who always rolled his short sleeves up to show off his muscles & Marine Corps Emblem tattoo - albeit in the movie it's a woman, Jennifer Coolidge, and she's genuinely funny. And then there's the stoner smart kid, Hashbrown (Miles Thompson) and quite a few pot-smoking scenes. Again, these things reflect the real-life high school years.While "Foreign Exchange" is clearly low-budget it's also obvious that the filmmakers took care to create memorable characters with excellent casting. The film also does well on the female front with precious Vanessa Lengies as Robyn leading the way. I say "precious" because she's a hugely likable character that you care about, like Dave does (Ryan Pinkston), particularly as the story develops. Ashley Edner is also on hand as the beautiful Jez. Tania Raymonde as Anita, the Brazilian exchange student, is the main female protagonist, along with Robyn, but she's too thin to trip my trigger. I also like the way the shining Asian girl, Mia Ho (Jessika Van), ultimately finds companionship despite being made out to be discard-able. It's elements like this that reveal the movie's warmth below the raunchy garnish. The second half starts to mark time, however, so I can't give it a higher rating.The film runs 85 minutes and was shot in Los Angeles.GRADE: B-
View MoreFour high school friends plan to ride out their senior year taking easy classes, including a program for housing foreign exchange students and eventually all attending Ohio State. Hurdles befall each of the four: grades, higher aspirations, love. Is it the Foreign Exchange students that learn from their host or the hosts that do more of the learning?Will you care after the titles?I didn't. It's sort of an American Pie ripoff without the heart.The only positive thing I can say is that the ids are actually marginally passable as HS seniors. They don't look 30 like other movies
View MoreThis movie was decent. I wouldn't watch it again, but to pass time it's cool. There was some really corny stuff in which it was actually HARD to watch without wanting to mute, but I got through it.It's a pretty typical movie, but it was fairly entertaining. But like others said, very typical. (spoiler coming up) The "playa" ends up with the girl hating on him and the shy dude gets the girl.I might have laughed a few times, can't really remember that. But I did smile.I like high school setting movies revolving around friends. So I liked it for that matter, but nothing stood out really. I think the idea was cool "exchange students", just it wasn't a good "comedy", "romance", "drama" or what ever genre the movie was attempting to be. It wasn't bad, just not good.
View MoreThis is the first teen movie where all the actors actually are and/or look like teens. If you are looking for a movie with "American Pie" humor, then continue searching, because this movie can not compete with "American Pie" humor. Don't get me wrong, I am not an "American Pie" fan but those movies are WAY more funny then this one.This movie does not have any exaggerated scenes, everything you see could have happened for real. So don't expect any "Scary Movie" scenarios.There are a few funny lines that I will never forget, like this one "Searching for a good girlfriend is like searching for a good used car, if the oil smells funny, there is something wrong with the vehicle." I gave this movie a 6 because I didn't laugh once. I smiled a couple of times but that's it. This is not the movie you want to buy, rent it, and only if you like high-school-movies.
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