Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life (film)

Plot

Rafe Khatchadorian (Griffin Gluck), who enjoys a passion for art and has an incredible imagination, transfers mid-year to Hills Village Middle School after being kicked out of his previous one. On his first day, he meets the strict and exceedingly vain Principal Ken Dwight (Andy Daly) and his stern, bad-toned Assistant Principal Ida Stricker (Retta). Dwight runs the school with an iron will and forces students to comply with an extensive list of rules that are mostly senseless and unlawful ones while Stricker follows along with his antics. Later that day, an assembly focused on the BaseLine Assessment of Academic Readiness (BLAAR) standardized test, led enthusiastically by Dwight, is interrupted when another student grabs Rafe’s sketchbook in which he had humorously drawn the principal as a zombie repeating “BLAAR” over and over. Dwight responds by destroying the sketchbook, much to the dismay of Rafe as it had been filled with his personal work.

Later that day, Rafe is back in his room with his friend Leo (Thomas Barbusca) who suggests that to get even, Rafe should destroy Dwight’s rule book. To show the ridiculousness of Dwight's rules, Rafe and Leo pull several pranks such as papering the walls of the hallways as well as Dwight’s office with colored sticky notes, changing the period bell to end with the sound of flatulence, filling the teachers’ lounge with plastic balls, putting pink hair dye in Dwight's hat, and turning the trophy case into a fish tank complete with coral and several sea creatures, including an eel. These pranks gain the attention and admiration of Rafe’s fellow students including Jeanne Galletta (Isabela Moner), the lone member of the AV Club who also sees the pointlessness of Dwight’s rules. Leo suggests strongly to Rafe that he not reveal himself just yet.

In the midst of the chaos, Dwight, obsessed with his school’s performance on the BLAAR, realizes that if he can stop the remedial class, which includes Rafe, from taking the test, then the average scores will improve enough to earn a number one ranking and a generous bonus for him and Stricker. To rig the BLAAR, Dwight frames several students from the class by secretly putting items in their lockers that make it appear like they were responsible for the pranks. He also uses the opportunity to unlawfully fire Mr. Teller (Adam Pally), the compassionate remedial class teacher who, along with the other teachers, disagrees with Dwight and Stricker's antics and sees through Dwight's plan. Rafe immediately goes to Dwight’s office and begs him not to suspend the other students since he was the one responsible for the pranks; when Dwight refuses, Rafe creates a crazy dance party by activating the sprinkler system and fire alarm, which soaks the school and the students in colored dye that was intended to be yet another one of his pranks, which prompts Dwight to expel Rafe permanently.

Now expelled from Hills Village Middle School, Rafe is confronted by his mother Jules (Lauren Graham) who tells him that her fiancé Carl “Bear” (Rob Riggle), who seriously loathes Rafe and his sister Georgia (Alexa Nisenson), has found a military school where Jules should consider sending him. While acknowledging that it is not ideal, it represents what may be the only option left. She also pauses to reflect the passing of Rafe’s younger brother two years earlier. It is then revealed that Leo was his late brother.

Later that evening, Jeanne shows up at Rafe’s house with concrete evidence: a VHS tape containing a documentary about the school, she had recorded Dwight putting the items "found" in the student lockers himself. With this evidence, Rafe, Jeanne, and Georgia gather the students from the remedial class outside the middle school, along with the disgruntled janitor Gus (Efren Ramirez), who also dislikes Dwight's rules, and pull together a plan to get revenge on Dwight and Stricker.

The next morning, Jules discovers that neither Rafe nor Georgia are home and becomes concerned about their disappearance, but when Bear shows more concern in the fact that his car (a red stick-shift 2009 BMW 328i (E90) sedan with doors that sometimes jam when opening) is missing as it was stolen by the kids, she finally realizes that he is nothing more than a selfish jerk.

Meanwhile with BLAAR testing ready to begin, Rafe and his classmates interrupt procedures and expose Dwight’s deceitfulness. Fed up with Rafe’s inferred disobedience, Dwight begins to chase him, but one of the students trips Dwight, so Stricker begins to chase Rafe, but ends up getting tripped as well. Gus shows up in a cart to pick up Rafe. Dwight then steals a student's bike and gives chase, only to have a pile of manure dumped all over him. Just as Dwight catches up with Rafe and Gus, Mr. Teller arrives with Superintendent Hwang (Angela Oh) to whom Rafe hands over the video proving Dwight’s guilt. He is subsequently fired by Hwang for creating unlawful rules, unlawfully firing Mr. Teller, and for illegally rigging the BLAAR, and Hwang later reveals that she will be pressing charges against Dwight for his crimes after turning him over to the police. As for Stricker, she is simultaneously fired and banned from the school as Dwight's accomplice. Later, when Jules arrives to pick up Rafe and Georgia, she breaks up with Bear, giving him back the engagement ring to pay for the damages to his car (courtesy of Georgia).

Rafe is later seen that night outside the school conversing with Leo who tells him that since Rafe has now made friends with some of his classmates, he is no longer needed to fill that void. As Leo departs on a spaceship with aliens that Rafe has created in his earlier sketchbook, Rafe and Jeanne share a kiss, breaking rule #86 which is the final rule Rafe needed to break for an ends justify the means deed.

Cast

Animation voices provided by Jeremy Culhane, Stephen Kearin, Tom Kenny, Mike Matzdorf, Michael Rapaport, and Jacob Vargas.

Production

On August 4, 2015, it was announced that Steve Carr would direct the film adaptation of James Patterson's 2011 novel Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life, with a script written by Chris Bowman and Hubbel Palmer. Griffin Gluck would play the lead role, Rafe Khatchadorian, a student at Hills Village Middle School. Leopoldo Gout and Bill Robinson were set to produce the film, along with CBS Films, which handles international sales, with Lionsgate handling distribution. On November 12, 2015, more cast were announced for the film, whose script was also written by Kara Holden; it was also announced that Patterson would co-finance the film through his James Patterson Entertainment, along with Participant Media and CBS Films.

Principal photography on the film began on November 21, 2015 in Atlanta, Georgia, and wrapped on January 19, 2016.

Release

CBS Films distributes the film through its partnership deal with Lionsgate. The film was released on October 7, 2016.

Box office

In the United States and Canada, Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life was projected to gross $8–10 million from 2,822 theaters during its opening weekend. It went on to open to $6.9 million, finishing 7th at the box office for its first weekend. It finished its theatrical run with a total gross of $23.3 million, making it a moderate success against its $8.5 million production budget.

Critical response

Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life received mixed reviews from critics. On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 58%, based on 38 reviews, with an average rating of 5.5/10. Metacritic reported an average rating of 51 out of 100, based on 13 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale.

Home media

The film was released on Blu-ray, DVD, and digital download on January 3, 2017.

Sequel

On October 3, 2016, James Patterson announced that he is developing a sequel to the film.