Get Over It! Review

Berke a high school basketball star with big expectations for his senior year gets a shock when his sweetheart Allison (Melissa Sagemiller) dumps him right before classes begin to take up with Striker (Shane West) the new campus stud. Berke becomes desperate over losing Allison and will do just about anything to win her back. He decides to quit the basketball team and join Allison and Striker in a production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream directed by drama teacher extraordinaire Dr. Desmond Forrest Oakes (a hilarious Martin Short) who writes 12 original songs for the production. Berke just wants to weave himself back into her life — that is if he can make it past auditions. So what if he can’t sing? He’s going to need a little help from the right person Kelly (Kirsten Dunst) his best friend’s little sister who is now all grown up. Seems Berke needs to realize what he already has.
The youthful cast sparkles in this surprisingly amusing film without lapsing into the usual teen fare. Foster (Liberty Heights) coming from a serious of geeky roles in TV series such as Freaks and Geeks and the Disney Channel’s Flash Forward has certainly grown up into a fine comic actor. Of course the highlights are Short‘s hysterical turn as the drama teacher (a pattern Short seems to be following in his career – bit parts that accentuate his tremendous comic abilities) and Swoosie Kurtz and Ed Begley Jr. as Berke’s new-age parents. Hip-hop singer Sisqo plays his good friend (enough said) while Dunst continues playing the simple sweet girl-next-door type which must be getting boring for her. We’d like to see her give more gritty or even melancholy performances such as the one she gave in last year’s The Virgin Suicides.
Get Over It was not pre-screened for U.S. critics which usually indicates a studio’s nervousness that the film is not up to par. However in this case Miramax may have been misguided. Although far from winning any awards it is a refreshing change of pace from the dredge being released lately. Even if the film comes off a tad frothy it actually balances a free-spirited sensibility with discipline. Adding elements from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream doesn’t hurt either. When the quartet (Berke Kelly Allison and Striker) begin halfway through production to let art imitate life first-time director Tommy O’Haver choreographs their movements with humor and high spirits.