Geek Charming

Plot

Dylan Schoenfield is a snobby, rich and self-centered 16-year-old girl who goes to Woodlands Academy. She has the coolest boyfriend, the most popular friends, and is determined to win the title of "Blossom Queen." Josh Rosen is a film geek and aspiring filmmaker with a crush on Amy, a former friend of Dylan's. He is also the president of the school's dorky Film Club.

Josh wants to make a documentary for the Puget Sound Film Festival, and decides to give himself a challenge, with his topic being popularity, and his subject being Dylan herself. Dylan, delighted to be in a movie, takes the opportunity; believing that with "her" movie, she could be crowned Blossom Queen. She instantly starts showing off and puts on an over-the-top, diva-like attitude. However, this leads to Josh "firing" her, having a heated argument about "whose" movie it is. After a while, Josh reconsiders her as his film subject after she sees the sci-fi movie "Flight of the Navigator" and she joins his club. Josh teaches Dylan a lesson about how the world doesn't revolve around her.

After the movie, Dylan invites Josh to her house, where they make an "everything-but-the-kitchen-sink sundae". While Dylan leaves briefly to go get something, Josh notices a wall of pictures, one of which has Dylan's mom in it, crowned the Blossom Queen. When Dylan comes back he asks her about it, and she says that her mom was Blossom Queen back in 1985. Her mom had died when she was 8. She also admits that she feels more connected to her mom when accomplishing the same things she did.

Josh's friends from the film club are angry at him for abandoning them for Dylan, and assume he has a crush, which Josh denies. He promises to attend the Mathlete Scavenger hunt the following Saturday. Dylan allows Josh to enter "the ramp," or the place in the cafeteria where the popular students sit, as a friend rather than a filmmaker. She advises Josh to talk to Amy, so he leaves, replaced by a disgruntled Asher. Meanwhile, Josh lands a date with Amy, and she says that Saturday is her day off. Forgetting that Saturday is the day of the scavenger hunt, he agrees.

Later, Josh talks to Dylan, not knowing what to do (and still forgetting about the scavenger hunt), so Dylan invites him to a party at Asher's house. Josh picks up Amy the next day and takes her to the party, even though Amy is uncomfortable with the crowd. Josh realizes that he and Amy have a lot less in common than he originally thought, and she leaves to check out the music. Josh talks to Dylan and asks her for advice on how to interact with Amy, as he had never dated before. Asher and Amy catch them and Asher assumes they're secretly dating. After the party, Josh asks Amy out to the spring formal. Amy declines, stating that although Josh is not secretly dating Dylan, he wants to.

The next day before school, Dylan's contacts fall down the drain, so she wears her nerdy black-and-brown glasses. At first she tries her best to make do with out them, but when she gets a note in class from Asher, she puts them on to read it, revealing her secret. To add insult to injury, the note says that Asher is breaking up with her. At lunch she wants Josh to sit with her, but Josh refuses and Dylan threatens him. Josh counters, saying "Or what? You're gonna ban me from the ramp? Your seat has already been taken!" Asher, now her ex-boyfriend, had given her chair to her biggest rival, Nicole Patterson, who is also a candidate for Blossom Queen. Dylan walks off again silently crying. Josh asks his friends what's wrong with Dylan. Upon hearing that Asher just broke up with her, Josh feels guilty. He also gets the news that he has been replaced by Caitlin as the film club president. To make matters worse for Dylan, Hannah and Lola also bail on her because they both had dates to the formal and Asher broke up with her for Nicole.

Josh finishes his movie, after much delay, and shows it to the public. Dylan walks in and sits down. She expects the movie to help her win Blossom Queen, but she is totally disgusted with the movie after only seeing a bit of it. When the audience laughs at Dylan's behavior towards the beginning of Josh's film, dubbed "The Popularity Project", Dylan runs out crying as Josh runs after her. Dylan accuses Josh of publicly humiliating her and undoing all her efforts to be rid of her old self, and walks off after telling him to leave her alone. It is revealed that the movie actually contains a compliment to Dylan at the end that Dylan doesn't see. The next morning, Amy shows up at Dylan's house. She states that just because she stopped being friends with her in 6th grade didn't mean she stopped being friends, she figured Dylan's decisions were affected by the death of her mother. She then tells her that Josh is worried about her, that the film won the film festival and that she is more popular than ever. She gives Dylan a DVD of Josh's "terrible" film and tells her to watch 'all' of it before she decides that her social life is ruined.

Later at the Spring Formal, Dylan shows up in her mother's dress, where Lola and Hannah ambush her, pulling her from Amy. When the "Blossom Queen" winner is announced; Dylan wins the title like her mother did, to Dylan's amazement and Nicole's horror and anger, as she storms off of the stage. Dylan then proceeds with a tearful impromptu apology for much of what she said in the film, and declares her feelings for Josh. She mentions her appreciation towards Amy for being her friend, and thanks Josh. They share a kiss and begin to dance. Also, Josh's friend, Ari, dances with Amy, and Josh's other friend, Steven, dances with Caitlin.

In the end, Dylan and Josh are shown facing the camera and apologize for the names they called each other at first. They kiss again with Josh's jacket covering their faces.

Cast

Songs

Production

Robin Palmer, the author of the original novel, was not involved in production and refused to read the script due to her background of adapting novels into films. The movie was shot in Vancouver, Canada and at St. George's School. The final scene was filmed near Broadway Ave.

Reception

It premiered on Friday, November 11, 2011, on Disney Channel and earned 4.910 million viewers.

Home media

The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray in the USA on February 7, 2012. It features 10 bonus episodes of Shake It Up and is a 2-disc set.

The film was released in the UK on April 23, 2012, alongside Frenemies. There are 5 episodes of Shake It Up and 5 episodes of So Random, on a 2-disc set. The bonus features are: