Horrible script and awkward acting

Rating: 2/10 (26 December 2008)

This is easily one of the worst movies I have ever seen. This film was probably the most hyped up teen film this year. I wasn't even all that interested when I saw the trailer but my friend said she liked it when she saw it so I decided to give it a chance. And after a painful half hour of it I don't think I can go on to finish the rest of the film and waste another hour of my life.
This is very obviously targeted towards a teen audience, especially a materialistic, impressionable, and empty minded teen audience.
The town is constantly overcast and somber, with some very stoic or angsty high schoolers strutting around. The new girl who comes to town and have to drive up to school in a rusting old pickup truck is suppose to evoke some sort of empathy as a misfit in a new place. But it's hard to relate when all the boys are throwing themselves at her, and becoming friends with her just so they have a chance to ask her to prom. And the hot guy from the mysterious rich "in crowd", who doesn't even give the time of day to any other girls also can't seem to stop disrupting her concentrated stoicism with his awkward small talk and flirting. How she made her friends is very reminiscent of late 90s teen romance movies, and fairly unlike real high school scenarios. She just has to sit there angrily minding her own business while people start running up to her happy to make friends.
One thing, if they're vampires, why are they not spontaneously combusting during the daytime? And since when are vampires able to eat and drink at high school cafeterias?
So anyway, with all the over-posed staring contests between the two intensely pretty lead characters, they manage to find some lackluster and meaningless conversation between themselves.
The script is very bland, witless, and pretentious. The main characters seem too busy posing and modeling rather than acting. The female lead just comes off as defensive and angry, while the male lead seems a bit ditzy and awkward. I'm hoping it's because he's having a hard time doing a convincing American accent. I've seen better scripts on D listed TV shows, and more romantic chemistry from pickup lines in Irish pubs.
The movie might have been more successful if the volume was off.