Deanna There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Fleur Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Dana An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

SnoopyStyle Dizzy Harrison (DJ Qualls) and his friends Nora (Zooey Deschanel), Kirk (Jerod Mixon) and Glen (Parry Shen) are in a garage band and seniors in high school. They are also outcasts. Dizzy especially is picked on and he even has his penis broken. He gets arrested and befriends fellow inmate Luther (Eddie Griffin) who teaches him the ways of the prison. Back in school, he gets himself expelled and transfers to a new school. Using a new name Gil Harris and new attitude, he's cool and just got out of prison. He's the popular New Guy and attracts the attention of cheerleader Danielle (Eliza Dushku).I like DJ and I don't mind the cliché teen story. It's just too silly to be taken seriously. Some of the story doesn't make sense even if a wide latitude is given. I'm not looking for a masterpiece of writing but it needs to be better. It's also not funny. The comedy is so broad that it really doesn't work. I kinda like the actors but the movie is too stupid to recommend.

lastliberal Does the loser always have to win in the movies. You know that doesn't happen in real life. The bully reigns supreme in high school and always will.OK, we suspend believe for 88 minutes and cheer on DJ Qualls, who was great in Hustle and Flow, and not too bad here as the nerd who went to prison and learned how to rock.I swear that i didn't drool over Eliza Dushku in Race the Sun, but I did here. She may have been playing a High School Cheerlear, but she's 22, so drooling is OK.Lots of cameos including Christa Campbell as Tommy Lee's girlfriend. You know that's why I tuned in.

Horror_Fan01 Skinny geek Dizzy, gets deliberately expelled so that he can reinvent himself at a new school as the coolest kid on the block In their attempts to plumb 'grosser-than-thou' depths, too many American teen comedies forget there's more to movie life than a succession of sick routines. The New Guy gets it partly right, slipping the gags into a proper, if clichéd, story and ensuring that the main characters are sweet, silly and - in that American Pie way - likable. Qualls is skinny geek Dizzy, who gets deliberately expelled so that he can reinvent himself at a new school as the coolest kid on the block. It works because he knows we know he knows it's a scam that's bound to come undone any moment. Throw in some love interest with Eliza Dushku, an eclectic mix of cameos (Vanilla Ice, Lyle Lovett, skateboarder Tony Hawk) and a 'you've just got to be yourself' message, and The New Guy scrapes a passing grade.Overall, Likable characters and a clichéd but meatier-than-usual story for a teen comedy. Definitely Worth A Rent!

ficie OK it's pretty obvious that this film is awful. In fact I only watched it because I mistook it for The New Guy 2003 The first real mistake of the film is the casting (I won't comment on Eddie Griffin, his name is enough of a trademark for bad films) -the so-called 'New Guy', DJ Quills, is a pretty bad choice under so many aspects. First of all, he is far too old for the part -which is pretty common, but what makes it much worse here is that this guy already looks ten years older than he actually is. Then, I have to say that even if I don't usually pay too much attention to this, here the lack of a decent script and anything anyway funny forced me to dwell on the protagonist's ugliness. This guy is far too abominably looking for any part!! How could he ever be believable in the role of the charming new guy?! The script doesn't help him either. The situations are recycled from whatever z-series American comedy, with easy jokes (people recorded while at the toilet) and tired stereotypes (cheerleaders, the jerk boyfriend, everyone in the high school behaving as a lobotomised mass). And where on earth could it be funny to see a super-skinny guy dressed as a general on a football pitch, throwing pseudo-quotes around?? More than that: do we really believe that that's going to make him popular in a high school?? The only actually funny parts were when the protagonist was being beaten up. They were trite and predictable, but at least that annoying skinny guy got what he deserved for a while. I have to admit: I didn't manage to watch through the whole film, so I might have missed some even more awful parts. Sorry about that. But I tried to watch a few scenes here and there, to see where it was heading (Nowhere).