Director: Stefan Brogren
Screenplay: Sarah Glinski, Matt Huether
Producers: David Lowe, Maureen Norton, Wendy Moore
Starring: Raymond Ablack, Dalmar Abuzeid, Lauren Collins, Nina Dobrev, Stacey Farber, Miriam McDonald, Cassie Steele, Mary Ashton, Jason Mewes, Kevin Smith
MPAA Rating: PG (Canada)
Running time: 77 min.

(3/5)

The Degrassi I remember dates back to the late 80s and was outdated when I caught up with it in high school. Like good films, good TV never really goes out of style and though the look and sound of Degrassi may have been a few years off, the material on hand wasn’t. Though teens were turning in for the drama, the teen pregnancy, drug problems, peer pressure and sex issues that they were dealing with on a regular basis, it was the way in which the material was handled that ingratiated the show to educators who saw it as a tool. Though we giggled through various episodes that were shown to us in sex ed classes, truth is that it was an ingenious idea: take a smart, popular show and use it to encourage positive behaviour. Not sure if it worked but it certainly opened a few eyes.

It’s difficult to say, mostly because I don’t watch it, whether “Degrassi: The Next Generation” is as smart or poignant as the original but you can’t blame producers for rebooting Canada’s most popular high school drama. I can’t even blame them for poorly imagined and produced TV movies like Degrassi Goes Hollywood because the film’s faults are not serious enough to scare anyone away.

This is no Clueless or 10 Things I Hate About You but the transplant of Degrassi to Hollywood goes over without a hitch (mostly). The story starts off with Paige in Hollywood trying to get her stylist career off the ground by being an assistant to a bitchy reality TV star. Back home, Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith are visiting their favourite high school and announce that Mewes is working on his directorial debut and they’re casting at Degrassi. Manny, a Smith favourite, fails miserably at her audition and then sets off for Hollywood on a Degrassi school, with a bunch of friends, for a second attempt at the role that has, in the meantime, been awarded to Paige. It all sounds convoluted on paper but on screen it makes perfect (if unbelievable) sense. Promise.

Degrassi Goes Hollywood’s greatest advantage is its fanbase. The film is too shallow and missing in character development to make much sense to anyone other than a fan. I found myself trying to figure out who was who, how some of these relationships worked and some of these missing bits are integral to the stories and the relationships being explored.

This is a fan only sort of film. Though it explores some interesting, and somewhat surprising, issues like the effects of war on family, the pressures of popularity and difficulties of growing up, they are simply too entrenched in the “world” of Degrassi, a world that is not introduced to non-fans and therefore lacks any real impact.

That’s not to say that Degrassi Goes Hollywood is a complete dud. It featured some amusing moments, some artistically shot scenes on the beaches of Hollywood at Sunset not to mention that the film wears its Canadian sensibility on its sleeve, something which will either annoy or ingratiate it to viewers. I enjoyed it well enough but this is going to play well with followers of the show.