Eliza Dushku

The New Guy

DJ Qualls (Road Trip) and Eliza Dushku (Buffy The Vampire Slayer) star in this spirited high school comedy about reinvention.

Qualls plays Dizzy Harrison, an earnest young nerd who along with his loser friends is constantly singled out for humiliation at his high school. When a series of contrivances lands him a short spell in jail, he finds an unlikely mentor in his cellmate Luthor (Eddie Griffin - Undercover Brother) who counsels him on how to reinvent himself.

Upon his release, Dizzy enrols in a new school, calls himself Gil Harris and puts Luthor’s advice into action. Amazingly, it works and Gil the badass becomes the coolest guy in school, eventually romancing school hottie Danielle (Dushku).

There’s not a lot going on under the surface of The New Guy, but it is an enjoyable teen comedy that joyously crams in aspects of almost every teen movie made in the last fifteen years, which gives it an almost self-mocking quality.

It is helped along considerably by an offbeat supporting cast, including country singer Lyle Lovett (remember, he was once briefly married to Julia Roberts) as Dizzy’s dad, Zooey Deschanel (Almost Famous; The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy) as a fellow outcast of Dizzy’s and Illeana Douglas (Grace of My Heart; Cape Fear) as Dizzy’s high school counsellor. Plus watch out for a plethora of weird/fun cameos from the likes of Henry Rollins; Gene Simmons, Tony Hawk; Vanilla Ice and David Hasselhoff. He’s everywhere.