The To Do List - A Movie Review

This is going to be one long summer. Better to get to work.

The To Do List is a 2013 film. Good-mannered Brandy Klark is about to head off to college. But she has some unfinished business before she begins the next step of her life. Interested in exploring her non-existent sex life, Brandy is in for a memorable summer.

The To Do List is a film that I’d never think to find myself watching. Of course, with Bill Hader involved I decided to give it a watch. Surprisingly, I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. The subject matter is not decent for all audiences, but it still displayed a thoughtful message.

Aubrey Plaza does a superb job as Brandy. She played a convincing teenager for someone in their late twenties. Exploring her sex life, Brandy finds herself way over her head with all the goals that she has to complete before summer’s end. These experiences help her grow along with improving relationships around her.

You can never go wrong with Bill Hader. He manages to find new character quirks every time, instead of playing the usual stereotype. Not the most responsible person to look up to, Willy learns an eye-opening lesson about himself. Hader invoked the funniest dialogue.

The friendship that forms between Brandy and Willy is the best part of the film. It displays an encouraging message to viewers to share a social connection with your boss. You never know who will pass advice to you.

For comedic purposes, most of the teenagers are played by actors in their twenties. Credits to mention are Alia Shawkat, Sarah Steele, Johnny Simmons, Rachel Bilson, Scott Porter, and Andy Samberg. Special mention also goes to Connie Britton and Clark Gregg for their humorous roles as Aubrey’s parents.

The humor is raunchy. I will warn you now that it is not for everybody. Most of the humor and sexual acts made me turn my nose up. This film is strictly meant for young adult audiences.

Swimming pools make great settings for films. Always makes a great location for a summer setting. I could tell that the cast had fun working in the pool area, divulging in crazy antics. Cool underwater camera shots were filmed.

Maggie Carey paid close attention to the overall moral. She gave teen romance flicks a new definition. The story was structured neatly, and it had a clear narrative instead of cluttering the film with nonsensical stories. I feel a sense of growth from the characters.

Carey worked well in her direction along with dictating most of the sexual jokes. Although this is the main theme of the film, Carey managed to give it positive reinforcement.

Most people feel embarrassed or don’t want to talk about this subject matter because they think that it is inappropriate. While I would agree, we are free to live our lives the way we want. Exploring your sex life is okay.

The most important part is that you should be comfortable with what you do and whoever you want to go out with. That’s the message that I like about this film. None of the characters are judgemental. They are just happy to be who they are.

I was not thrilled with the editing. The editing was sloppy. Most of the cuts are very noticeable. Several takes were done because there are continuous errors in a lot of scenes. The film should have gone through a cleaner edit.

As I mentioned, The To Do List is meant for mature audiences. Overall, it was a funny film. I had a fun time.