This is under X because of how you say Extra, yes, I am clutching at straws.
Writer: Bob Saenz (Screenplay)
Starring: Patrick Fabian, Angela Kinsey, Colin Ford, Darlene Vogel, Gary Hudson, Timothy Simons, Nicholas Cutro, Ellie Bamber
Plot: A mature, intelligent high school student has a side job arranging “accidental” deaths (no 2 alike) of fellow students’ parents. A cop detective notices this student being connected to all the kids of dead parents. Who wins the face-off?
Runtime: 1 Hour 26 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: By the Book
Story: Extracurricular Activities starts as we see the first deaths of the parent’s, the school comes together to support the students with Reagan Collins (Ford) an intelligent high school student being behind the death, soon after another parent dies and the parent of one of the other students is a detective Cliff Dawkins (Simons) starts to investigate the deaths which seem too close together.
As Reagan’s business continues to gather steam, the number of parents dying increases, forcing Cliff into a true battle of cat-n-mouse to prove that Reagan is behind everything, putting his own career on the line.
Thoughts on Extracurricular Activities
Characters – Reagan is the confident intelligent high school student that is always getting the best grades and he has a business on the side, one where he helps plan and kill fellow student’s parents, he makes them all look like accidents, until detective starts sniffing around deaths, he looks to stay in control of the situations always having a way out of Cliff stopping him. Mary Alice Walker is one of the cheerleaders at the high school, who starts to get involved with Reagan, she comes off like the girl next door. Cliff Dawkins is the detective that starts to believe something is going on with the deaths, he believes Reagan is behind them and wants to prove it, even if it will put his bag on the line. He is determined to get to the truth when nobody else is getting involved in the truth.
Performances – Colin Ford does make this calculated character interesting to watch through the film, while Ellie Bamber makes for a fun love interest, without needing to do too much. Timothy Simons gets most of the laughs with his detective work, which shows how far one detective would go for the truth.
Story – The story here follows a high school student that has a double life killing fellow student’s parents and soon gets a detective on his trail, while always trying to get the truth, despite the number of bodies piling up. This is a story that is showing just how dark school life can get when it comes to seeing how the kids are willing to look to murder if they get upset by their parents. It plays out in a world where the police are complete idiots, not having a clue about how to solve a crime and does show how calculated people can be in life.
Comedy/Mystery – The comedy in this film comes from seeing how the detective is trying to get to the bottom of the crime, with little mystery around what is going on, because everything is put there in black and white.
Settings – The film uses the settings to show us where the characters would operate in everyday life, with the high school life and party areas.
Scene of the Movie – The envelops.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – We are meant to support the wrong character.
Final Thoughts – This is a comedy that does the basics well, it shows a twisted idea without being the most engaging story.
Overall: Simple and Effective.
