The DUFF (UK Rating: 12A)
Time to sort out the definition, first off. A ‘DUFF,’ according to the DVD of the same name (released on Monday 17th August, and discussed in Talking Pictures this coming Thursday), is a ‘Designated Ugly Fat Friend.’ Not that they actually have to be ugly or fat, though. As long as they make their friend(s) look good and aren’t up to their standard in the looks department, that’s just fine. They are more approachable, easier to talk to – and easy to pump for information about their gorgeous mate by her (or, indeed, his) admirers. Ever been there?
As The DUFF sets out to demonstrate, just about everybody has. In this case, teenager Bianca (Mae Whitman) isn’t fussed about clothes, unlike her two glamorous friends Jess (Skyler Samuels) and Casey (Bianca A Santos). When she discovers she’s been labelled as their DUFF, and is bullied because of some online video footage, she decides to overturn the social order at school, and make a few changes in her own life, as well.
It’s an idea that makes for just over an hour and a half of fun and, while it’s primarily aimed at the teenage market, it will appeal just as much to an older audience. That’s not just because of the presence of Bianca’s mum, Dottie (the ever-excellent Allison Janney), although she does balance the teenage angst with some of the middle-aged variety. It’s more because just about anybody watching the film will have been a teenager and, at some stage, a DUFF, as well, although perhaps it should be re-worded as ‘Designated Uglier, Fatter Friend.’ Bianca’s neighbour Wes (Robbie Amell) introduces the concept to her and also tries to explain that being a DUFF doesn’t necessarily mean being ugly or fat – not that Bianca’s listening, as the damage has already been done.
This is a film, then, all about giving people labels – they are given them visually in the movie by some neat graphics – and how inaccurate they always are. With that established, it is predictable stuff. Bianca goes through the familiar ugly duckling transformation, getting her man in the end, and putting her glamorous but bitchy nemesis Madison (Bella Thorne) in her place in a very public manner. The film’s given a contemporary twist by social media playing a significant role in the story. Madison has aspirations to be a reality TV star and has everything filmed to go on her YouTube channel by her near-silent hanger-on, Caitlyn (Rebecca Weil), including the footage that makes Bianca a public laughing stock. Caitlyn never stops filming, so her mobile phone must have one heck of a battery – although she probably has several, as do an awful lot of the other students!
Of course, although Bianca doesn’t quite have the looks of her friends, she does have the brains and that’s how she gets her own back on Madison and comes to the obvious conclusion that people are individuals and, although it’s all too easy, shouldn’t be labelled. On the way, however, there are plenty of laughs, and some topical gags about social media and self-improvement.
