The To Do List
(USA, 104 min.)
Written and directed by Maggie Carey
Starring: Aubrey Plaza, Johnny Simmons, Bill Hader, Rachel
Bilson, Alia Shawkat, Sarah Steele, Scott Porter, Connie Britton, Clark Gregg.
The
To Do List, loosely
inspired by the real-life adventures of first-time feature writer/director
Maggie Carey, is a funny case of TMI. Set in the 1990s, for no good reason
other than to provide a few good Beaches
jokes, The To Do List sees class
valedictorian Brandy Klark (Aubrey Plaza, Safety Not Guaranteed) studying to get her first big F. Brandy is a virgin, see,
and boning up on all things naughty is atop her list of college prep chores.
Getting one’s own pair of shower sandals isn’t nearly as important as prepping
for freshman year’s biggest exam: sex ed.
Referencing comedic classics like Caddyshack and contemporary raunch-fests
like Superbad, The To Do List finds itself somewhere in the middle of the league of
great American sex comedies. If The To Do
List doesn’t go down as a classic of the genre—it could at least be an
indie sleeper hit of the summer—audiences should at least appreciate its sisterly
bond with other femme-centric summer comedies like this year’s The Heat and last summer’s winner Hope Springs (more on that below). The To Do List, like The Heat, is one of the few films this
summer (and year) to feature a female filmmaker in a principle role behind the
camera; moreover, it’s a rowdy story of a girl channelling her own sexual
energy in a genre usually reserved for horny boys masturbating with dessert things.
Brandy gets the popsicle in this one and she knows how to use it!
Carey thankfully avoids much of the whiny
self-consciousness that seems to have become synonymous with feminism in the
media since the onslaught of Lena Dunham. Carey has an uncontrived edge that’s
much sunnier—and funnier—than that of Little Miss White Whine, so the laughs of
The To Do List should reach beyond an
audience raised on HBO. It’s broad humour, but The To Do List manages to hit a surprisingly sweet note during
Brandy’s summer of unbridled debauchery.
If The To Do
List deserves comparison to any sexy comedy of late, however, it might find
an unexpected companion in last year’s warm sex[ish] comedy Hope Springs. Hope Springs put Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones on an awkward
sexual adventure of rediscovering dormant love by snuggling up in the bedroom
and connecting at the heart via some physical detours. There’s also that hysterical
bit of seeing Meryl go down on Tommy Lee in a movie theatre. (It seems that the
movie house handjob is a milestone of small town sexual awakening, but it’s too
bad that Meryl’s Kay didn’t have time to read the note on Brandy’s to do list
and learn that the key ingredient is butter.) The key ingredient in The To Do List, like Hope Springs, is that it doesn’t treat
sex as simply physical pleasure or a check mark on the road to adulthood.
Brandy’s quest, like Kay’s, is a trip of self-discovery and of gaining
confidence with one’s body and with one’s appetite.
Hope
Springs should be on any to do list for summer sex comedy
viewing, while The To Do List at
least deserves a spot in the “maybe” pile. Hope
Springs might tell a similar story with more heart and humour, but The To Do List stretches its shtick well
enough. If Hope Springs is for mom
and dad, The To Do List should
provide the same lesson under the guise of juvenile humour. The premise doesn’t
always pay off as well as one hopes, for every other joke about the awkward
fumbly girl hits a winner while half of them land with a thud. The To Do List isn’t a home run, but Plaza’s
delightful, flat-out funny awkwardness at least brings it to second base.
Rating: ★★★ (out of ★★★★★)
Rating: ★★★ (out of ★★★★★)
The To Do List is now playing in wide release.