The To Do List (2013) - Maggie Carey

Brandy Klark is not your typical high school student.  The valedictorian of her school, Brandy is highly organized and bossy.  On the eve of attending college, Brandy begins to feel the pressures to become more sexually active /experienced from both her friends and family.  In a way which the overly organized Brandy only could, she creates a list of sexual things to accomplish before campus in the fall.  Maggie Carey's The To Do List sets out to be the next big female-centric comedy in the vein of Easy A or Clueless, but unfortunately it doesn't surmount to much past its unique and entertaining concept.  The To Do List is a one trick pony, that relies almost exclusively on the humor of an inexperienced Brandy fumbling through various sexual favors.  Don't get me wrong, the film does have quite a few funny moments, particularly centered around Bill Hader and Rachel Bilson's characters, but the film did begin to wear out its welcome towards the end.  While the comedy is serviceable, the film really struggles to deliver any type of resonant thoughts on female sexuality.  The film tries to balance gross-out sexual gags with gender politics and self-discovery but it can't pull it off to the point where I even became a little disheartened by the films message.  One could make an argument that the film is even socially irresponsible, telling young girls that sex is not a big deal at all, completely ignoring any mention of sexually transmitted diseases outside of being used for a joke.  Every member of Brandy's family is walking stereotypes, with her father being the sheltered conservative and her sister being a sex addict.  Maybe I'm being too harsh but The To Do List feels raunchy for the sake of being raunchy, whiffing at any true element of poignancy.
4.5/10

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