A high schooler reinvents his identity in this 2002 teen comedy cult classic
In short: Dizzy Harrison is a social outcast who decides to trade his nerdy reputation for a cool new persona. With guidance from a prison inmate, he orchestrates his own expulsion to start fresh at a new school, only to find that maintaining a double life is harder than it looks.
Released in May 2002, The New Guy follows the transformation of Dizzy Harrison, an 18-year-old senior from Austin, Texas. After a series of unfortunate events, including a bizarre injury involving a librarian, Dizzy lands in prison. There, he meets Luther, an inmate who mentors him on how to shed his uncool image. Dizzy successfully transfers to East Highland High, where he adopts the persona of Gil Harris and quickly rises to popularity, even winning over the head cheerleader, Danielle.
The film's production journey began in March 2000 under Walt Disney Studios before moving to Revolution Studios. Filming took place across various Texas locations, including San Marcos and the Driskell Hotel, between October 2000 and January 2001. The final product, directed by Ed Decter, features a cast including DJ Qualls, Eliza Dushku, and Eddie Griffin. While the theatrical version focuses on a standard teen comedy narrative, the 92-minute unrated cut adds darker backstory elements, such as the claim that the character Gil Harris had previously committed murder in Rhode Island.
Critical reception for the film was largely negative. Rotten Tomatoes reports a 7% approval rating based on 98 reviews, with critics labeling the movie as an unoriginal collection of gross-out cliches. Metacritic assigned it a score of 24 out of 100, indicating generally unfavorable reviews. Despite this, the film achieved a modest box office success, grossing over $31 million worldwide against a production budget of $13 million. It remains a notable example of the early 2000s teen comedy genre, complete with a soundtrack featuring artists like The Offspring and Bowling for Soup.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: The New Guy
- Also: Wikidata — The New Guy · CC0
- Also: Wikidata — The New Guy · CC0
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