The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

The New Guy (2002): Dir: Ed Decter / Cast: DJ Qualls, Eddie Griffin, Eliza Dushku, Zooey Deschanel, Lyle Lovett: Comedy about transformation and by its conclusion viewers may wish that it took the form of a better film. DJ Qualls plays a school nerd who is bullied to the point that he attempts expulsion. Why he is sent to prison for this is beyond me but he is trained by Eddie Griffin in the art of intimidation. Now he is enrolled in a new school with a brand new outlook. He goes through the predictable clichés of gaining interest of the school slut and bully's girlfriend. Directed by Ed Decter with amusing references to Patton and Braveheart. Qualls does what he can with otherwise predictable material. We know that he will face his oppressors and conquer and none of it amounts to chalk board dust. Griffin narrates for reasons unclear. He will school Quall in the art of rebellion. Eliza Dushku plays the girlfriend with the personality of a paper bag. Zooey Deschanel also appears as one of Quall's friends who has "unnoticed girlfriend potential" written all over her. This is unfortunate since she is totally hot. Lyle Lovett makes a wasted appearance to remind us that his career is dying rapidly. Theme regards acceptance and fitting in as well as standing up for yourself, which everyone can relate too but the screenplay needed transformation to match and it fails to do so. Score: 5 ½ / 10

There are not a word I can drag out of my vocabulary that describe how awful this movie were, I think the correct word must still be invented I were to say ½ out of 10 I am giving this movie the biggest complement ever.Needless to say but this movie are bad and I mean really bad and with possibly the worst actor in the world in this movie it goes from bad to almost unwatchable in less than 15 minutes.Let met start with the biggest problem in this movie namely DJ Qualls .His acting abilities are horrendous. Nobody will ever belief person so strange looking if not ugly will every succeed in getting a girl like Eliza Dushku (except the people giving this horrid movie more than 2 stars) The plot It the same old story all the teen movies. A outcast Dizzy Harrison (DJ Qualls) get expelled from his school and some how lands in prison (didn't bother to give much attention to detail ) butPrison buddy luther (eddie griffin) teaches Dizzy the techniques of how to be popular He goes to his new school under the alias Gil Harris and are ever bodies hero thanks to luthers techniques and Danielle (Eliza Dushku )fall in love with him , but some one finds out about his real name and history of been a outcast and starts to threatens his repartition of been the hot new guy.A terrible movie,

Does the loser always have to win in the movies. You know that doesn't happen in real life. The bully reigns supreme in high school and always will.OK, we suspend believe for 88 minutes and cheer on DJ Qualls, who was great in Hustle and Flow, and not too bad here as the nerd who went to prison and learned how to rock.I swear that i didn't drool over Eliza Dushku in Race the Sun, but I did here. She may have been playing a High School Cheerlear, but she's 22, so drooling is OK.Lots of cameos including Christa Campbell as Tommy Lee's girlfriend. You know that's why I tuned in.

Skinny geek Dizzy, gets deliberately expelled so that he can reinvent himself at a new school as the coolest kid on the block In their attempts to plumb 'grosser-than-thou' depths, too many American teen comedies forget there's more to movie life than a succession of sick routines. The New Guy gets it partly right, slipping the gags into a proper, if clichéd, story and ensuring that the main characters are sweet, silly and - in that American Pie way - likable. Qualls is skinny geek Dizzy, who gets deliberately expelled so that he can reinvent himself at a new school as the coolest kid on the block. It works because he knows we know he knows it's a scam that's bound to come undone any moment. Throw in some love interest with Eliza Dushku, an eclectic mix of cameos (Vanilla Ice, Lyle Lovett, skateboarder Tony Hawk) and a 'you've just got to be yourself' message, and The New Guy scrapes a passing grade.Overall, Likable characters and a clichéd but meatier-than-usual story for a teen comedy. Definitely Worth A Rent!