Funny-men Trevor Moore and Zach Cregger of sketch-comedy group The Whitest Kids U Know fame debuted on the silver screen with a sex-comedy road-trip romp. As expected from this genre, the film is filled with predictable banal banter between the two best friends, locker-room humor and a healthy dose of shock value. But while "Miss March" as a whole is doomed to join the catalog of formulaic films aimed toward male teenagers, Moore and Cregger deliver flickers of comedic gold that will, at the very least, amuse audiences.
"Miss March" is Moore and Cregger's first attempt at writing, directing and starring in a mainstream feature film. The vestiges of their sketch-comedy backgrounds are clear, with recurring slapstick jokes and caricaturized characters. The merits of "Miss March" stem from what Moore and Cregger are best at -- their creative and shocking physical stunts -- not the predictable plot line.
On the night of their senior prom, Eugene (played by Cregger) finally resolves to lose his virginity to his high school girlfriend, Cindi (Raquel Alessi). When he gets cold feet, his long-time best friend, Tucker (Moore), suggests inebriation as the solution. Instead of heating things up, Eugene's drinking results in a coma-inducing accident. Four years later, Eugene wakes up to discover that Cindi was recently featured as Miss March in a Playboy centerfold. Eugene decides that he can't let Cindi go, and so begins his and Tucker's wild road trip to the Playboy Mansion to win back her heart.
The duo's journey to the mansion is peppered by a predictable menagerie of characters, including Tucker's vengeful (and epileptic) girlfriend, murderous firemen, hyper-sexualized lesbians and a vulgar parody of sexist hip-hop artists with names unfit for print.
Amidst these absurd characters and the absurd events they cause, Tucker and Eugene valiantly trek along in the name of love and purity. The movie falls short most noticeably when the audience is obligated to sit through Eugene's ponderings on the nature of love. This -- and any other attempt "Miss March" makes at depth -- is the movie's low point. The film is undeniably a crude comedy that would fare much better if it were unapologetically raunchy.
Cregger and Moore manage to successfully portray the dynamic of long-time friendship between their characters. Eugene is the rational one with the agenda and Tucker is the immature risk-taker, unfettered by social constraints. Regardless of the chemistry on screen, however, the relationship is unoriginal and reminiscent of Dante and Randal from "Clerks" (1994) or more recently, Harold and Kumar of "Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle" (2004). The formulaic storyline of two buddies getting themselves into ridiculous but hilarious situations often works, but becomes exhausting when it is so clearly exploited. Unlike "Clerks" and "White Castle," "Miss March" is unlikely to gain a fan base apart from existing Whitest Kids U Know fans.
Using Playboy as the main plot device also comes off as unoriginal and outdated. "Miss March" offers plenty of quality eye candy for its target audience but is outdated. Most of its demographic has outgrown girlie magazines and moved on to the Internet. Also, Playboy as the center of ultimate sexual fulfillment for all men has been repeated time and time again in mainstream entertainment, most recently in "The House Bunny" (2008). "Miss March" does not give any new twist to this increasingly obsolete theme.
"Miss March" is unoriginal and predictable, but there are certainly chuckles to be had during the film's 90-minute running time. Still, the overall experience is like hearing a mildly amusing joke for the second time.
