A few of Hollywood’s most enduring style conventions contain outsiders and underdogs, usually two classes rolled into one, depicting the smug elite. The cowboy who involves city and brings justice in a less-than-lawful manner. The lovable con artist who makes fools of society’s uppity of us. The washed-up cop or spy known as in for one final undercover mission. The stereotypical sorority lady who seems to be a secret authorized genius.
The latter is, after all, the heroine of “Legally Blonde,” Elle Woods, a vogue pupil who impulsively decides to go to Harvard Legislation Faculty and discovers that her unconventional {qualifications} give her an perception that her extra buttoned-up friends lack. Rex Simpson, the lead in “House Cadet,” bears greater than a passing resemblance to Elle, and never simply because actress Emma Roberts might play, sideways, Reese Witherspoon’s niece. (Her actual aunt, Julia Roberts, performed one other feisty underdog in “Erin Brockovich.”)
Roberts’s most well-known work could also be on the Ryan Murphy reveals “American Horror Story” and “Scream Queens,” the place her expertise for taking part in a sure sort of queen bee — lovely, merciless, one disaster away from combustion — makes her a magnetic presence. She excels at caricatures, elevating these characters to satire with out diluting their saccharine venom. That expertise for exaggeration appears to make Rex Simpson the correct position for her.
“House Cadet,” a comedy written and directed by Liz W. Garcia, has a solid that’s very near “Legally Blonde,” with a few of the plot beats so clearly lifted from that movie that I started to surprise in the event that they have been meant to be provocative. Rex is a neon-wearing, alligator-wrestling, beach-partying Florida bartender, however there’s extra to her than meets the attention: She was a science whiz in highschool and dreamed of being an astronaut. When her mom died, she turned down a full scholarship to Georgia Tech. When she attends her 10-year highschool reunion along with her greatest pal, Nadine (Poppy Liu), she’s depressed about not with the ability to, uh, get away.
An opportunity encounter with a former classmate who now runs a non-public spaceflight firm sparks one thing in Rex. It’s time to pursue her desires. So she heads to NASA’s web site and decides to use to be an astronaut. One drawback, after all, is that she has no {qualifications} for the job. However is that an actual barrier for Rex, the girl who invented patentable tanning mirrors?
The movie continues on this vein, sending her to NASA in a crop prime to turn into an Astronaut Candidate (or AsCan, a nickname that garners quite a lot of jokes). That is the place the Legally Blonde comparisons are available. There’s, for instance, a classroom scene the place Rex doesn’t know the reply to a stern trainer’s query, then a later one the place she does, demonstrating her development. There’s a whole sequence the place individuals look askance at Rex upon her arrival at NASA, because of her cheerful, eccentric outfit that alerts a scarcity of seriousness.
His cohort appears oddly acquainted, too. They embody a fairly, uptight imply lady (Desi Lydic) who’s decided to take Rex down as a result of she’s satisfied she’s unqualified to be there. Rex makes a pal (Kuhoo Verma) who wants some confidence classes, and he or she provides them to him. There’s a critical overachiever who’s simply returned from six years of secluded analysis within the Arctic (Josephine Huang), a homosexual MIT grad who calls himself a “smoothie artist” (Troy Iwata), a no-smiling former particular forces agent (Yasha Jackson) and a patriotic ex-military captain (Andrew Name).
Above all, there are the 2 good individuals overseeing the AsCan coaching program, Pam Proctor (Gabrielle Union) and Logan O’Leary (Tom Hopper), whose British accent is defined within the script by giving him twin citizenship. Logan is the love curiosity, after all, although I had bother staying keen on him. His predominant attraction, as Rex ultimately informs us, is his accent and his glasses.
Like Logan, many of the characters really feel extra like acquainted sorts than actual individuals—commonplace for a fast-paced, lighthearted comedy. However meaning there’s nothing stunning sufficient within the movie to get amusing. The jokes really feel drained. The actors are principally doing the very best they’ll, however the script usually leaves them imitating the comedy fairly than appearing it out.
All of this extends to Rex herself. If the freshness of a “Legally Blonde” film comes from how elements of the character’s weaknesses (lengthy hours logged at a magnificence salon, for instance) find yourself changing into strengths, the issue with Rex is that we don’t know her weaknesses. She’s a bartender—everybody calls her a bartender to emphasise how unqualified she is—however past her proficiency in high-pressure conditions, that work expertise has had little impact on her. Rex is alleged to love to celebration, however that’s restricted to a couple wholesome nights out with mates. She’s a sensible lady, a beneficiant pal, a form daughter, and whereas she’s not precisely certified to be at NASA, she appears able to simply overcoming any problem there.
In different phrases, Rex will get little consideration as a personality, a disgrace for an actress of Roberts’s specific abilities. When the second requires her to provide a rousing speech of encouragement, it’s crammed with obscure platitudes that any kindergarten trainer might spout, fairly than hilarious Rexisms. (Her solely catchphrase appears to be “dude.”) By the top, we all know that wrestling alligators gave her the abilities to dislodge some house particles, however it seems like an afterthought.
The movie ends with truisms about taking the large leap and by no means giving up, which feels barely incongruent with the plot itself. That’s to not say “House Cadet” is unwatchable, however it’s the sort of film that makes you need to return and revisit higher variations. The comedy depends on sharply rendered quirks and absurdly particular set items that maintain you laughing. With out these, “House Cadet” is much less a comedy than a dream of 1.
House Cadet
Rated PG-13 for some tasteless jokes and a few profanity. Operating time: 1 hour 50 minutes. Watch on Prime Video.
