Jump to the good stuff: The Story | Some Thoughts | The Final Verdict
The Story:
The Story of a Bad Boy is a comedy about a teenager discovering his sexuality in 1982.
Pauly (Jeremy Hollingworth) is an awkward high school kid who makes decisions based on his libido. He’s attracted to an altar boy at a local catholic church, so he becomes catholic and starts attending mass, which confuses his Greek orthodox parents, (Julie Kavner and Stephen Lang).
When Pauly’s girlfriend, Ludmilla (Lauren Ward), wants him to switch from his private school to public school, he bugs his parents until they comply. And while he’s at public school, he joins the drama club and quickly becomes attracted to Noel (Christian Camargo), the student teacher putting on the spring play. And while he’s involved in the play, he finds ways of having alone time with Noel, who also seems interested in him.
Soon Pauly finds himself trying to please his girlfriend and his parents while grappling with his sexual desire for Noel.
Some Thoughts:
The Story of a Bad Boy gets the look and mindset of 1982 right. Lang and Kavner are great as the parents and work well together. As Pauly, Hollingworth has the innocent look and touch of naughty the role requires.
Pauly is a hormonal teenage boy to the nth degree. While the situations get a bit extreme, from experimenting with girls to seeing how far he can get with a nun, it does have that youthful feeling of sexual awakening. And his attraction to one of the male teachers, Noel, isn’t far from the mark for Pauly.
Noel is a bit of a confusing character. He’s closeted and neurotic, but the film doesn’t explain why. He also has a lot of gay friends that he no longer interacts with, but the film doesn’t give a reason for this. And on top of that, it’s not believable that he would risk his career to hang out with one of his students.
Because the story doesn’t focus enough on any one aspect of Pauly’s life, it often feels like it’s all over the place. Also, Pauly’s friendship with Carla (Cherelle Cargill), a student of color obsessed with being popular, could have been explored more. It would have been interesting to see how race plays into her need for popularity.
Pauly interacts with people, overextends himself with school activities, and is highly hormonal. However, since there aren’t any introspective moments, all his actions lack depth. They’re just amusing scenes that don’t tell us anything about Pauly or give the film a message. And because of this, the end has little impact and feels as if it comes out of nowhere.
The Final Verdict:
The Story of a Bad Boy is a quirky comedy that could have used more story development before making it to the big screen. Hollingworth, Lang, and Kavner are well cast, but their performances alone can’t hold this mess together.
