FЯED: The Movie | Review
I hate Fred (Luca Cruikshank). I hate his YouTube videos. I hate his computerized voice (chipmunk!). When I saw an advertisement for ‘FЯED: The Movie’, I thought to myself how stupid of an idea that was, especially since it’s based off of an online mini-series. Yes, the YouTube videos are popular but I thought a feature-film adaptation was just too much. So why did I like ‘FЯED: The Movie’ more than I should?
The answer to that question – because ‘FЯED: The Movie’ has heart. As cheesy as that sounds, it’s true. This made-for-TV movie was made with effort and dedication, not lazily for cheap laughs. I found myself legitimately laughing at the antics scattered all over the movie.
Fred, in the movie, is a 15-year-old middle school boy who’s socially awkward. He’s purely innocent, has exaggerated emotions, and acts very childish. Fred has a crush on a fellow schoolmate, Judy (Pixie Lott), and apparently has so for the past few years. Fred and Judy are also next-door neighbors. Fred’s other neighbor and schoolmate, Kevin (Jake Weary), is a stereotypical bully and thwarts every attempt Fred makes to talk to Judy.
Weary’s portrayal of Kevin is well-done. He plays the character of Kevin enough for him to be a total douche, yet at the same time humorous, in a mean way. The things he does and says to Fred are really mean, but, again, they’re funny. I found it funny that Kevin is an aspiring singer, and the sequences in which he and Judy sing together were far-out and funny. Judy is surprisingly portrayed by English singer Pixie Lott (My favorite song from her: ‘Here We Go Again’.). Judy’s not in the movie much, but from what was shown she seemed like a good person and apparently nice to Fred.
So, the basic plot of ‘FЯED: The Movie’ is that, in the beginning of the movie, Judy moves. The majority of the movie follows Fred’s attempts at finding Judy’s new house, with many other random mini-storylines encountered along the way. The whole sequence and joke with Fred’s childhood friend who went to retrieve a lost ball in the woods and disappeared is funny, and it’s even funnier later on in the movie when it gets referenced again. Fred digging a hole to “China” was another highlight of the movie. Basically, there are a bunch of truly random, but funny, jokes scattered throughout the movie.
The best part of ‘FЯED: The Movie’ came along in the third act. When Fred and his friend Bertha (Jennette McCurdy (iCarly)) shot a party video, it was a success and truly clever of them in regards to how they pulled it off. When the video was played, it was funny and heartwarming to me, and the video’s actually important to Fred and the themes encountered in the movie – he found a real friend in Bertha, and the video depicting Fred’s party made all of Fred’s haters and enemies jealous. The only part I didn’t like was the ending when Judy returned. I felt like it was too cliche to have Fred accept Judy’s apology (for something that happened in the middle of the movie), especially since Fred’s new friend Bertha deserves more credit than Judy.
Over, ‘FЯED: The Movie’ is a low-budget, made-for-TV movie with a big heart, devotion, and lots of laughs. It’s not gonna be a movie that many people will like. Like I said, I was surprised to like it as much as I did, but I blame it on my initial low-expectations. A friend of mine saw the movie when it premiered on TV, and said she loved it because she was bored and it was a surprisingly appealing piece of entertainment, so she suggested it to me. ‘FЯED: The Movie’ is really a movie that you have to watch with low-expectations, and a non-critical approach. The movie can’t be compared to other comedies, it’s a children’s movie. But it’s entertaining.
