Movie Review - All the Boys Love Mandy Lane

All the Boys Love Mandy Lane (2013...or 2006?)

Starring Amber Heard, Michael Welch, Whitney Able, Edwin Hodge, Aaron Himelstein, Luke Grimes, Melissa Price, and Anson Mount

Directed by Jonathan Levine

***This film is currently streaming on Netflix***

I think I've mentioned this before, but getting reviews of horror movies from AintItCool.com is probably the worst thing one can do.  Granted, I'm well aware that no one even looks at AintItCool.com anymore, but back in 2006 when All the Boys Love Mandy Lane was supposed to come out, it was still a de rigueur website.  Yes, that's right -- this film has been sitting on the shelf for seven years.  It was snatched up by the Weinsteins for over $3.5 million after a apparently stellar debut at a film festival, but the movie mogul brothers got cold feet about its prospects and sold it to another distribution company which went belly up before the film was able to be released.  So gathering dust it sat until director Jonathan Levine's 50/50 came out to rave reviews (deservedly so) and the Weinsteins decided to seek out this film again -- Levine's directorial debut.

Anyway, back to AintItCool.com -- the movie geeks at that site were saying that All the Boys Love Mandy Lane was a reinvention of the slasher genre.  A new Scream for a new generation.  Um...no.  Not even relatively close.  Instead, this is a low budget, rather humorless flick, filled with some obnoxious music video-esque lensing and nary a character we can rally behind and hope that they make it out alive.

Amber Heard is certainly gorgeous and the film wants us to know that right from the start.  The opening shot features Heard as the title character walking down a high school hallway with everyone -- boy and girl alike -- staring at everything Mandy has to offer (and thanks to slow motion, the glimpses linger).  Despite her beautiful appearance, Mandy Lane is not one to sleep around and she certainly doesn't hang out with the cool crowd.  Instead, she hangs out with her best buddy Emmett (Michael Welch) who's undoubtedly less popular than Mandy.  After an horrific accident at a high school party in which Emmett is held somewhat responsible for another student's death, Mandy disassociates herself from him and becomes a bit more intrigued with the popular crowd, five of whom invite her to a secluded ranch for a weekend getaway.  Little does the sextet know that someone will be picking them off one by one.

Quite simply, there's nothing original about All the Boys Love Mandy Lane.  The story is typical, the kills are uninspired, and the acting is simply average.  This is far from a reinvention of the slasher genre, instead feeling like another tired retread.  It's easy to see why this one sat on the shelf for so long and I'm not at all sure why it was so well-received upon its film festival debut.

The RyMickey Rating:  D