Hey, it's a cute, juvenile fantasy. I can't imagine that anyone who chose to watch it was laboring under the assumption that it was going to be anything more than that.
I've never even heard of Cameron Dallas before this. I don't think he needs to start working on a draft for his Golden Globe acceptance speech, but if you're doing a cute, juvenile fantasy, I can think of no one who could have handled the job better... to be fair I have to admit I'm not sure who else might be in the running. Occasionally he delivered his lines like he was reading them for the first time and I suppose his bubbly enthusiasm might wear thin much longer than the 90 minutes or so this movie ran, but I really can't see why some reviewers were so negative. I'm sure he'll be a hit among the presumed target audience for Expelled.
The idea of some school kid bored to death with school and then engineering some elaborate, unrealistic schemes to undermine the smooth running of the school, to deceive his parents and to outwit adults who are portrayed as clueless drones, is hardly original. The "pranks" and antics Felix & Co. pull off are childishly improbable ... I don't think anyone was aiming at realism ... but then it was fairly amusing in a absurd sort of way.
I'm pretty sure the goal of the production was to make a silly, laughable bit of fluff and in that regard, they were pretty successful. Felix and his co-conspirators were fun to watch. Great theater for all times it was not, but some of the rather angry, spiteful sounding reviews appearing here suggest their authors really need to lighten up and look at this movie as a bit of fun, not as an attempt at a profound, thought-provoking social commentary.
I'm giving it a 7. Probably deserved a 5 or 6, but I feel the need to compensate for some of the over-the-top critics.
