Not Cool (film)

Plot

In a small Pennsylvania town, a group of high school friends reunite during a Thanksgiving break from their college classes. Former prom king Scott (Shane Dawson) is dumped by his hyperactive, erratic girlfriend Heather (Jorie Kosel) and finds a new love interest in Tori (Cherami Leigh). Meanwhile, Scott's younger sister Janie (Michelle Veintimilla) is approached by Joel (Drew Monson), who tries to woo her using the knowledge that he has gained from her social media posts.

Cast

Production

Not Cool, along with Anna Martemucci's Hollidaysburg, is one of two films sponsored by the Starz reality competition show The Chair. The films vied for a $250,000 prize based on multi-platform voting system. The film cost $800,000 and took 20 days to shoot.

Release

The film was released through Starz Digital Media theatrically on September 19, 2014.

The film was released digitally on September 23, 2014.

Reception

Not Cool was panned by critics. Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a 14% rating based on seven reviews with an average rating of 2.1/10. On another review site; Metacritic, which assigns a rating out of 100 for reviews from mainstream critics, the film has received an average score of 1, based on 4 reviews, indicating "overwhelming dislike", becoming one of seven films to currently hold this rating; the other six being Bio-Dome, Chaos, inAPPropriate Comedy, The Singing Forest and 10 Rules for Sleeping Around.

Frank Schreck of The Hollywood Reporter gave the film a negative review, stating, "Filled with ethnic stereotypes, scatological humor, profane language and characters who are not so much caricatures as cartoons, Not Cool well lives up to its title." Neil Genzlinger of The New York Times opined that the "characters are vile; the acting is terrible (Mr. Dawson, who has had some YouTube success, cast himself in a leading role); the tone is a confusing mishmash; and there’s not an original thought or joke in the thing." The Los Angeles Times also gave it a negative review, calling the film "an abyss, an insult to the craft of filmmaking, storytelling and entertainment in almost every way."

On the final episode of The Chair, broadcast on November 8, 2014, it was revealed that Dawson's film won the prize. The results were tabulated with SurveyMonkey, where Not Cool averaged a 63 out of 100 in comparison to Martemucci's film which averaged a 58. In total, 39% of the votes cast were disqualified for lack of evidence that the voter viewed both films. Chris Moore, executive producer of The Chair, noted that Dawson's film was mainstream. The Chair producer Zachary Quinto called Dawson's film "ultimately a vapid waste of time," but was "glad Shane won — he set out to do what he wanted to do."