The To Do List

Plot synopsis:
Brandy Klark (Aubrey Plaza), from Boise, Idaho, is an overachieving but socially awkward teenager who graduates as the valedictorian of her high school in 1993. After the ceremony, Brandy's two best friends, Wendy (Sarah Steele) and Fiona (Alia Shawkat), take Brandy to a party, where she gets drunk for the first time. Brandy makes out with a muscular college boy she has a crush on named Rusty Waters (Scott Porter). Since the room is dark, he mistakes Brandy for someone else and when he realizes who she is, he rejects her. Brandy blames her lack of sexual experience and resolves to learn all about sex over the summer to prepare for college. She decides that her end-of-summer goal will be to have sex with Rusty to complete her "To Do List".
Brandy gets a job at the pool as a lifeguard to be close to Rusty and her study-buddy Cameron Mitchell (Johnny Simmons). As the newbie, she is hazed by her slacker boss, Willy (Bill Hader) and her other co-workers by being given the most unpleasant jobs. Brandy is told to clean waste from the pool that appears to be feces. She assumes her co-workers are playing a prank on her, based on the Baby Ruth joke from the film Caddyshack, so she takes a bite only to find out it is actual feces. As revenge, she pushes Willy, who does not know how to swim, into the pool. She agrees to teach him how to swim in exchange for ending the hazing.
Brandy gets advice from her sister, Amber (Rachel Bilson), her mother, her two best friends, while her father, a conservative judge, is uncomfortable with the talk of sex. Using this information, she makes a "to do list" of sexual acts to learn and perform. As the summer progresses, Brandy has several sexual encounters with Cameron and other boys, all while trying to catch Rusty's eye. Cameron begins to fall in love with her but is crushed after discovering her list and realizing he was just part of her "mission". Willy catches Brandy, Wendy, Fiona, and adult members of a male grunge band in the pool after hours. Brandy is sent home where she is confronted by Cameron over the list. Cameron leaves in a huff and Brandy cries. Duffy (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), an ex-boyfriend of Wendy's, comes over to comfort her and the two hookup.
When Wendy and Fiona come over to watch the film Beaches with Brandy, they discover her list and see the list of boys with whom she had experimented. They get upset after finding out that Brandy hooked up with one of their ex-boyfriends and leave angrily. They declare that Brandy has failed to put "hoes before bros" and call her a slut.
Brandy finally gets close to Rusty when they vandalize a rival pool, but they get caught because Brandy leaves her bra, with her name on it and Willy fires her. Brandy asks out Rusty, and he takes her to a popular make-out spot to have sex, but the sex is brief. She sees her father and mother in the Dodge Caravan next to them having sex, causing her to freak out and demand that Rusty take her home immediately.
Willy goes to the Klark house to stop Brandy from having sex with Rusty, but is met at the door by Amber, who seduces him. When Rusty and Brandy arrive home, a jealous Cameron is there to meet him with a sucker-punch, and they fight until Brandy breaks it up. She compliments them on their good qualities, apologizes sincerely to Cameron for using him, and offers her own view of sex.
Afterward, she seeks out Wendy and Fiona to apologize to them. She sings "Wind Beneath My Wings" at Wendy's door, and the two girls join in, forgiving her. Brandy meets with Willy at the pool, and he offers her his job if she comes back next summer as he has quit to follow the Grateful Dead.
In the fall, Brandy and Cameron meet again at Georgetown University. Brandy apologizes to Cameron. They have various forms of sex and Brandy finally achieves orgasm, the last thing on her list, just as her father walks in on them.

Tags: adult comedy, prank

Review:
After watching "Bridesmaids" earlier this year, I was actually quite surprised to see a film that I usually would have flagged as a "chick flick" make me laugh and leave the theatre thinking I just watched an overall quality comedy.
Think of a cross between "American Pie" and "Superbad", with even dirtier dialogue, morals, and situations...with female characters as the leads.The film starts with quite a crafty opening credits sequence, which quickly lets you know that you're being brought back to the early nineties (1993 to be exact).
And that's probably the biggest trick that "The To Do List" is able to pull off : The situations through which the characters go embrace their stereotypical nature while constantly pushing both the limits of good taste/morals and of what you've previously seen in similar movies.
Where "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" got a bit sanctimonious at times, this film ends up stating that sex can just be a casual thing and should be enjoyed as exactly that.
In the same vein as "American Pie", "Superbad", and "The 40-Year-Old Virgin", this film definitely doesn't bring anything properly new, but it does innovate by reversing the mold and putting female characters as the leads.
Aubrey Plaza's one note characters fit this movie well.What I liked most about the flick was that it finally gave a voice to the sexually confused teenage GIRL population.
It's a very progressive movie in the sense that it reverses the normal teen comedy gender stereotypes and gives the audience an unfiltered and unashamed (however hyperbolic) look at female sexuality, insecurities and intricacies.NOT FOR KIDS..
I'm sure I was followed by a few more people as well.Before you discard my review because I didn't watch the end, I did stay for about 80 out of the 105 minutes and just didn't care enough to stay.The film has a highly overdone premise, yet I hoped it would take a somewhat original take on it with this "to-do list" idea.
The movie had the most stiff dialog that was just so full of overly crude and unrealistic give and take between characters that it made me feel like I was watching some sort of amateur movie made by a sex-crazed film student.
It's almost like Mrs. Bill Hader (writer and director) didn't know what to do to add in humor so she threw in her husband for a little bit of weak and lame slapstick/stupidity humor.An obvious comparison of this film would be the American Pie films, which share in the same sort of over-the-top sexual content/humor.
I enjoyed those way more than this film simply because they were funny and had characters you actually liked.
Rachel Bilson and Clark Gregg, in the little screen time they had, made a legit effort to bring realism into their characters and allowed for a couple short chuckles.It seems that this film is getting some good reviews here on IMDb, and that's okay, I'm not trying to ruin Maggie Carey's career or anything.
I'm just telling it like I saw it, and I respect the positive reviews, but for me I just didn't catch the funny parts in such an awkwardly progressing story about a girl who completes sexual actions with others as part of a to-do list.Overall, the film was an unsophisticated, unrealistic, overly explicit and awkward dramatization of teenage sexuality.
Not having had any previous sexual experiences whatsoever and embarrassed about how little she knows about sex, Brandy decides to educate herself, taking it on like a school project.The To Do List takes us back to 1993 with an excellent cast including Bill Hader, possibly the best comedic actor working today, Johnny Simmons as Brandy's best male friend, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Alia Shawkat as Brandy's best friend, Rachel Bilson as Brandy's older sister as well as Clark Gregg and Connie Britton as Brandy's parents.
The movie takes place in 1993 and is about a recent high school grad who decides she needs to explore her sexuality and makes a "to do" list of all the things she wants to try before losing her virginity.
Besides Plaza (who, I must say, looks far too old to play 18 at this point; I know no one else is 18, either, but most of the others are more convincing), we have Johnny Simmons as the dorky, handsome boy who crushes on her, Scott Porter as the hunky older guy after whom she lusts, Alia Shawkat and Sarah Steele as her best friends, Rachel Bilson as her older sister (whose fiancé, Adam Pally, who was one of the funniest people on television in Happy Endings, is completely wasted), Bill Hader as her boss, Andy Sandberg as a grunge rocker and Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Donald Glover as a couple of other guys who went to high school with her.
The To Do List was a pleasant surprise since I figured it would be a low budget teen flick...But,you might say it was a very funny female version of American Pie. I'm also surprised at the modest rating on IMDb. The ensemble cast headed by Aubrey Plaza did a fine job in a fast moving, profanity laced raunch fest that still maintained a valid and interesting plot...a high school grad wanting to learn about what she had been sexually missing.She was helped by Rachel Bilson, as sexy as ever without her goody goody TV doctor persona and SNL's Bill Hader.Quite honestly it's hard not to like this film despite its grossness in parts.It would be natural to have a welcome sequel with Plaza'a character as a college girl..
"The To Do List" (R, 1:44) is a raunchy comedy from first-time writer/director Maggie Carey, who loosely based the movie on her real-life experiences.
The film stars the very talented Aubrey Plaza ("Parks and Recreation") as Brandy Klark, a brilliant high school graduate who becomes convinced that she has to prepare for college by having all the sexual experiences that her commitment to studying and her social awkwardness have not allowed for.
When Brandy Klark (Aubrey Plaza) , the class scholar and all around nerd, decides to become more sexually experienced before going off to college, she makes herself a to do list to help her work her way up to losing her virginity.
In this 90s-era film, The To Do List tries to follow in the footsteps of teen sex comedies like American Pie and Superbad, but in the end it fails to even be on the same level as these films.
On the one hand, the To Do List has many qualities that could make it into a classic coming of age movie: an overachieving protagonist with a yearning to fill her sudden sexual deficiency before college; the supportive best friends who edge her on, the timid boy who attempts to cross over from being just a friend to being something more, etc.
All of the "sex" scenes are disturbing and trying to force some laughs from the awkwardness of showing some (parent, friend, nephew, coworker) walking right during the act, wherever the place and whenever the time.There is also no meaning in this.
The To Do List The first item teenagers should check-off on their sexual experience to-do list is pregnancy scare.Especially, since this comedy takes place before Plan B.As the valedictorian for the class of 1993, Brandy's (Aubrey Plaza) scholastic achievements outshine her sexual ones.To rectify this before going to college, she compiles a list of sex tasks that culminate with her and Rusty (Scott Porter).To scratch these arousing articles off her list, Brandy heeds the advice of her friends (Alia Shawkat, Sarah Steele), her sister (Rachel Bilson) and her mother (Connie Britton).Unfortunately, her empirical approach to intercourse has an adverse effect on those around her, especially her platonic lab partner (Johnny Simmons).Though it offers some good pointers to amateurs; ultimately, The To Do List is a drastically unfunny and unnecessarily revolting romp.As for #1 on a man's sexual to-do list: find a virgin with a sex to-do list.Red Light vidiotreviews.blogspot.com.
It isn't a high-brow comedy, but the sex jokes and gags are funny without feeling as juvenile as they do in many other films, like the countless American Pie movies.
Though the plot falters here and there, overall it is a satisfying comedy.The plot is quite straightforward, the virgin high school valedictorian, Brandy played by Aubrey Plaza, is looking for sexual experience and to lose her virginity before going to college.
There are also really cliché final monologues by Brandy about sex and love, which aren't funny at all and feel out of place.I am a huge fan of Aubrey Plaza.
'THE TO DO LIST': Four Stars (Out of Five)Aubrey Plaza stars in this teen sex comedy film as a brainy high school graduate who wants to explore sex (for the first time) before going to college.
The movie was written and directed by first time feature filmmaker Maggie Carey and co-stars her husband Bill Hader (along with Johnny Simmons, Scott Porter, Alicia Shawkat, Sarah Steele, Rachel Bilson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Donald Glover and Andy Samberg).
The film is basically the same as a guy teen sex comedy flick just from a woman's point of view (instead of a young man's).
She then makes it her mission to learn all about sex before going to college (through a 'to do list').The movie is full of raunchy and vulgar jokes that kind of seem fresh and different in this film.
watched THE TO DO LIST ...the first thing I liked about it is..that the story sets in the 90s..the awesome decade..BUT the makers choose to forget all the good-funny things about it & kept their focus only on "sex"...& try to made a teen movie with the theme of FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS & NO STRINGS ATTACHED..& it kinda reminds of EASY-A..BUT the film is not that bad..I mean they kinda made it like the American PIE with a girl thing though...it has a few funny moments thanks to its fine cast..they did a good job(in the time they had)...BUT the film looses its grip on the story when it reaches to the end...its like the makers said "OK guys today is the last day of filming..wrap it up" so the climax of the film is not that impressive...BUT its an entertaining film the for the young ones(by that I mean 14 to 22)It has no nudity..still one should avoid watching it with their parents I rate it just_WATCHABLE_.
"I like it." That's the LEAST funny line I've ever heard in a movie.On the whole, it's just a normal romantic comedy where she ends up with her best friend because she realizes that he's ...
If they weren't so completely clueless about their target audience, I could have forgiven them on some of the pop culture references that were a few years off.I've had my fill of Aubrey Plaza playing the awkward, misunderstood girl, but I do always like an appearance by an SNL cast member or two.
This is a movie about a teenage girl who is tired of being a virgin loser -- apparently a rarity in her school in 1993.Brandy (played by Aubrey Plaza) decides to experiment sexually before she goes off to college (where apparently the real fun will begin).
Once I add sexually experienced to the package he'll want me." After high school graduation valedictorian but sexually inactive Brandy Klark (Plaza) goes to her first real party and sees a guy that makes her feel things she never has before.
However, "The To Do List" sneaks by with what we pretty much expected; crude jokes, awkward instances, insane sight gags, and commentary on teenage sexual urgency that is already well-know and barely worthy of a "Cliff Notes" pamphlet.The film stars the lovable and underrated Aubrey Plaza, who's performance in last year's "Safety Not Guaranteed" I regard as one of the most sincerest performances of 2012.
A woman like Brandi would not realistically falls madly for this kind of guy, let alone enough to make her write an entire to do list of sexual favors she plans to perform before college rolls around.
Some of the things found on the list are too vulgar to describe here; let's just say there are a lot of jobs, a lot of genial-sounding favors, and it all leads up to sex with Rusty.The problem with "The To Do List" is the film feels more like a compilation of awkward situations strung together by the vaguest of plot lines.
She makes the "To Do List" in which she does different sexual things with any guy who is willing.It is easily one of the most funny movies I've seen.
Besides, the choice lead that went to Aubrey Plaza shall make the film likable.Aubrey Plaza plays as Brandy Klark, a nerdy senior high school Valedictorian graduate in 1993 who's bothered by her virginity and is pressured by her ungrateful sister Amber (Rachel Bilson).
Maggie Carey, the writer-director of the movie (Bill Hader's spouse) makes sure the sexual dialogue doesn't go too far the way American Pie or The 40-Year Old Vrigin was supposed to.
This very funny movie is an interesting version of the standard teen sex comedy, which is usually about boys trying to get girls, but in this case is about the opposite, with Aubrey Plaza playing a smart, studious girl who decides she needs to experience the whole of sexual experience before heading off to college.A number of reviewers here describe this movie as extremely raunchy, some even describing it as "gross," but my response was different.
Think this movie would've been better if it had been done with college aged characters (less of a sex to-do list, more of a sexual exploration through Brandy's college years), Bison's character was eliminated altogether, some of the gross out humor had been toned down a smig (such as the pool and shower "conclusion") and that the parents had acted a little more...
I love the cockiness in this movie, Audrey Plaza is awesome in her role, there some forced jokes in it but its very original we never see the point of view of a virgin girl, its mostly in guys.The To Do List is a relatively routine coming-of-age/graduation summer storyline – where a bookish character is thrown into one zany situation after another.The story arcs and comedy setups rely on jokes and awkward encounters that have been covered numerous times before on film – meaning a lot of predictable but still amusing gags.That said, The To Do List includes plenty of ridiculous (and cringe-inducing) moments that are sure to entertain moviegoers looking for a raunchy teen comedy.
The setup may not be as original as it would have been back in the time of the film's 1993 setting but there are enough clever pop culture references and awkward comedy setups to keep the movie feeling fresh.Is worth watching it.
I think Aubrey Plaza is a brilliant actor and this movie had a generally great cast.
The movies tells the story of Brandy Klark a valedictorian who under pressure sets out and makes a list to do everything that'd make her sexually experienced before she heads onto college.
I'm reminded of how i felt watching "american pie" for the first time, good for a few laughs, a bit shocking, but really nothing more than that.Finally i would like to make special note of how much i liked Bill Hader in this movie.
In fact i would go as far as to say this is my favorite role he has had on the big screen.(also, Rachel Bilson is thrown in the movie for nothing more than to prance around in her bra and aerobics uniform.....which i'm completely o.k. with.)All in all, "The To Do List" is worth a watch if you don't get too offended by a lot of sexual references and humor.
The supporting cast is also good: Clark Gregg is funny but not very believable as Brandy's father.One of the things I liked about this movie which is undeniably on the explicit side (albeit there is no nudity) is that there is an air of innocence about it, and the characters are broadly quite likable: neither Brandy not her sister are very sympathetic to start off with, but they are both funny, and you warm to them.So don't see it if you object to sex comedies, but if you are OK with that then you may well get some laughs out of it, especially if you are young and female..
It pretends to be set in the 90's but has zero feel of that time other than a loud soundtrack of hip hop songs that are out of place and some vague references.A super smart yet nerdy girl wants to lose her virginity before starting college so she makes a list of things she is going to do, all of them slang terms that mostly did not exist in 1993.Every teen curses in front of their parents and talks about sex, kids at a pool push lifeguards in the water with no repercussions and they use a Caddyshack joke while actually referencing Caddyshack and it's still not funny.
The film is well worth checking out and as the title of my review indicates, it is a breath of fresh air in the teen comedy genre.The film takes place in the summer of 1993, and Brandy Klark (Plaza) is a high school valedictorian who has achieved so much as a youth and is highly anticipating getting to college.
The film focuses primarily on Brandy spending the summer trying to complete her list, spend time with her best friends, and working at a local swimming pool.The To Do List is written and directed by Maggie Carey, who is making her first feature.
The movie is basically about this really unlikable and naive character named Brandy Klark, going through a list of sexual activities that leads to sex at the end.
It stars Aubrey Plaza as Brandy, a recent high school valedictorian graduate who makes a list of sexual activities to partake in before she goes to college.