Assassination of a High School President

Plot

Bobby Funke (Reece Thompson) is a less than popular high school sophomore with a dream to get into Northwestern University's summer journalism program. Although Bobby claims he's a great writer, he's never finished an article for St. Donovan's School Newspaper. The editor-in-chief Clara, (Melonie Diaz), assigns Bobby to do an article on Paul Moore, the student body president. Bobby attempts to get an interview, but is unable to get a story out of Paul and is bullied by Paul's friends. Paul is the star of the basketball team and on a game night, Paul takes a fall and injures his knee. The next morning Principal Kirkpatrick (Bruce Willis) discovers the SATs have been stolen from a safe in his office. Kirkpatrick rounds up his "usual suspects" of high school misfits along with Bobby to question them. The group is innocent but Kirkpatrick warns them all to watch their step.

When senior Francesca Facchini (Mischa Barton) solicits Bobby's help tracking down the set of stolen SATs, Funke uncovers a story. He sets on a large scale investigation and links Paul Moore to the crime. He writes an article pointing the finger at Paul. Kirkpatrick forces Paul to open his locker and the SATs fall out. As a result of his sleuthing, Funke becomes one of the most popular kids at St. Donovan's. Clara decides to submit Funke's article to Northwestern which earns Bobby a scholarship to the summer program. Funke wins the respect of everyone from Principal Kirkpatrick to the kid that farts on him in Spanish class and Francesca takes Funke to homecoming. As Funke's popularity grows so do his suspicions. Paul confronts Bobby, proclaiming his innocence, stating that he got into Cornell but decided to take the test again to see if he could get a better score. Funke begins to wonder if the president really stole the SATs or if he's just a pawn in a conspiracy.

Funke investigates even deeper into the lives of Paul's shady friends, all members of the Student Council. He discovers their involvement with drug dealing. The Student Council had actually stolen the SATs along with other tests throughout the year, modifying the marks of the best students to make them doubt their test-taking abilities and turn to the Student Council for speed-like "study drugs". Funke says that while Paul wasn't a part of the scam, group ringleader Marlon Piazza (Luke Grimes) has Paul framed to avoid being caught. Funke also finds out that Francesca led him along the entire time to keep him from finding out the truth. Francesca and Marlon, step-siblings, are revealed as lovers.

Funke confronts the group in the principal's office. Marlon threatens to have Funke thrown out the window and frame it as a suicide, but his threat and confession are heard on the school's intercom system. When Funke entered the room, he secretly turned on the microphone; Funke's friends save him from being thrown out the window and Kirkpatrick rushes into the office, followed by the student body and Francesca. Francesca attempts to gain Funke's trust again, only to be shut down and left to deal with Kirkpatrick's punishment.

Cast

Inspiration

The fictional St. Donovan's High School was inspired by the Catholic high schools of writers Tim Calpin and Kevin Jakubowski. Calpin attended Scranton Preparatory School in Scranton, Pennsylvania, while Jakubowski attended Fenwick High School in Oak Park, Illinois. The look of the school and style of dress were drawn from these high schools. The school mascot (Friar) and the school emblem (cross of the Dominican Order) was derived from Fenwick. The movie was shot on location at Bayonne High School in Bayonne, New Jersey.

Release

The film was scheduled for a February 17 limited theatrical release, followed by a wide release on March 27. The release date was not met as its distributor Yari Film Group's releasing division filed for bankruptcy. This attracted a response in the media urging a theatrical release, and to avoid a direct-to-DVD release by Sony, who own the home video distribution rights. Several journalists advised that the film should at least receive a limited theatrical release, and encouraged fans to support the film on social networking sites such as Facebook.

In May 2009, Barton spoke to reporters about the future of the film: "They just can't get the funding to distribute it. The movie is complete and ready to go but there is no release date set and it is not looking likely there will be one."

In Russia, the film was not released to theaters but premiered on May 14, 2009 on the Russian free-to-air channel TNT TV.

In August 2009, despite fan protests, it was finally stated that due to YFG's bankruptcy the film would not receive a theatrical release, and would instead be released straight-to-DVD on October 6, 2009.

In April 2010, the film was released in Portugal, distributed by Ecofilmes. Over the following months, the film was released in various markets, including on June 11, 2010 in Australia.

Critical response

The film holds a 50% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on ten reviews, indicating a mixed critical reaction. The film was highly praised by MTV, favourably comparing it to Rushmore, The Usual Suspects, Chinatown, Sixteen Candles and Fast Times at Ridgemont High. The network added that "The film's central mystery keeps you guessing intelligently, but brilliantly balances every reference to Nietzsche with a joke about a chocolate swirly." The casting choices were also praised, Willis is "hilariously intense" and Barton "brings the femme fatale back for a new generation."

The Hollywood Reporter cited the film's lack of "novel insights" but praised the performance of two of its actors, Thompson is "completely convincing" and Barton is "captivating".