There’s a species of young adult novels — and their ensuing film adaptations — that wear sophistication on their sleeve. Mainly to demonstrate that sophistication won’t save the angsty teenage soul – see “The Perks of Being a Wallflower”. In the teen romantic comedy, sophistication usually manifests itself in a near-endless stream of pop culture references.
“Honor Society,” directed by Oran Zegman from a screenplay by David A. Goodman, rolls out of the gate with such dazzling formal and thematic sophistication that it might take you a while to realize it’s It’s actually a young adult film. The relentlessly driven main character, Honor (Angourie Rice, who you may remember from ‘The Nice Guys’, terribly attractive throughout), slyly despising her working-class parents, created a character ruthlessly focused on getting out of his one horse town and at Harvard. A place where “mediocre people have outsized opportunities,” she tells the camera.
The “Election” and “Rushmore” notes are strong here. Some adult viewers will feel old watching Christopher Mintz-Plasse, of “McLovin” fame in “Superbad” (2007), play the guidance counselor (eventually sleazoid) who feeds Honor the unpleasant surprise that she is actually the one of four students vying for his recommendation from Harvard.
This news motivates Honor to weave a manipulative web that tangles dramatically. One of his foils, Michael, is played by Gaten Matarazzo, that handsome kid from “Stranger Things”; Michael responds with awkward kindness to Honor’s tempting movements. So of course, he’s the one cracking his cynical shell.
A twist takes the film to a darker location, close to Patricia Highsmith. But no murder takes place, and the resolution of the film confirms what one might have suspected from the start: the dominant tone of the play is a bit that of “To all the boys I’ve loved before”.
honor society
Unclassified. Duration: 1h37. Watch on Paramount+.