Review: ‘The To Do List’ Is Fantastically Feminist And Ferociously Funny

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Box Office Take:

Look, unless this film is seen by basically zero people over the course of its theatrical run, home viewing debut, and cable lifespan, it will be profitable. It cost just $1.2 million. It is all-but inconceivable that The To Do List will fail to make at least $3 million in revenue, thus making a profit. Obviously there is the question of marketing and distribution, buy CBS CBS Films has been pretty low key with this one, so there frankly isn’t much being risked. What matters is what this film represents and what its success will possibly mean.

Not to sound like a broken record here, but there is a serious problem in mainstream cinema in regards to telling female-centric stories and even more of a problem with the paucity of stories told by female filmmakers. The To Do List qualifies as both. So its success or failure unfortunately does matter in terms of adding more evidence to the seemingly shocking idea that females both go to the movies and do like seeing stories about other women, maybe even films written and/or directed by women to boot. Again, The To Do List is all of these things.

Other than that, there really isn’t much at stake beyond the relative bankability of Aubrey Plaza. But she’ll continue to get work even if the film doesn’t open, as she’s a known comedic talent with friends in the SNL universe and the Apatow crew. Whether or not she gets more lead roles versus girlfriend roles is as much to do with whether or not female-centric scripts get written as opposed to the success or failure of this one very cheap labor-of-love, although this film’s success will hopefully lead to more of the former. I hope that The To Do List makes money, and it’s worth your support if you’re the sort to complain about the lack of movies like this.

The Review:

I could write an entire essay about how Maggie Carey’s The To Do List represents a worthwhile step forward in gender parity in the romantic comedy and/or sex comedy arena. So yes, in a summer filled with boy-centric coming of age stories (Mud, The Kings of Summer, The Way, Way Back, etc.) it’s important that this one happens to be about a young girl’s proverbial coming of age. And in a studio environment where we see constant male-centric variations on the sex comedy sub-genre, it’s worth highlighting this rare foray into a teenage girl’s sexual discovery. But the naval-gazing essay can wait until later. Truth be told, one of the best things about The To Do List is how nonchalantly it treats its gender switch.

On a societal level, this female-centric sex comedy is important as a symbol of quantitative disparities. But in the film itself, the fact that it stars a “she” instead of a “he” is a complete non-issue. And while the film certainly touches on gender double standards and slut shaming, it’s not what the film is about per-se. The To Do List is a classic ‘one crazy summer’ comedy, full of richly developed characters, thoughtful dialogue, and a genuine desire to divert from formulaic conventions when possible. It’s also consistently clever and funny, with a pleasant mix of vulgarity and character comedy emanating from a genuine smart and thoughtful screenplay.

The plot is painfully simple: In the summer of 1993, sheltered and somewhat asexual Valedictorian Brandy Klark (Aubrey Plaza) sets out to get all of her sexual education out of the way before heading off to college. This of course leads to the usual hormonal discoveries, character growth, conflicts between friends, and what-have-you. Yes, the film is both a story of sexual awakening and literal character development, and writer/director Maggie Carey pulls both off with genuine aplomb. The picture is filled with solid actors (Plaza, Bill Hader, Alia Shawkat, Connie Britton, etc.) doing fine low-key work that earns laughs while never betraying the reality of the world in which they inhabit. Hader is especially terrific here, and it’s a reminder of much his loss will be felt at Saturday Night Live.

As with most great comedies, every major character is fleshed out and all are given a modicum of respect and dignity. Yes, we get some standard types, such as the sexually conservative father (Clark Gregg), the ripped-but kinda dumb dreamboat (Scott Porter), and the would-be ‘right guy’ (Johnny Simmons), but the film takes careful note to deviate from the expected as its journey unfolds while arriving at a completely organic destination. Plaza anchors the film in her second terrific star turn, following last year’s Safety Not Guaranteed, and she once again proves that she has the chops to be a genuine comedic movie star.

It should in fact be noted how nonchalantly feminist this picture is. It treats the sexual adventures of a teenage girl with no more gravity than the ‘boys will be boys’ escapes we see as a matter of course. By not condemning Brandy’s desire to be sexually experienced, the film says that girls are in fact sexual beings with sexual desires to go along with romantic yearnings. It shouldn’t have been a novel concept in 1993 and it’s shameful that it’s still somewhat of a novel concept today. Like Hysteria and ParaNorman, The To Do List sadly ends up feeling a lot more subversive and/or progressive than it otherwise would have had our society not recently and inexplicably restarted the sexual culture wars from the 1960′s.

In today’s “war on women” climate, a film that celebrates and respects the fact that girls have sexual yearnings (in a safe manner with a consensual partner, natch) feels downright revolutionary. Putting aside politics for a moment, the whip-smart and laugh-out-loud funny The To Do List joins Easy A and Mean Girls as one of the best mainstream studio releases about teenage girls over the last decade. I’d say it’s the best comedy of the year, but I haven’t gotten around to seeing This is the End or The World’s End, so I don’t want to make such a pronouncement quite yet.

See it for its social worth, see it for its ‘personal is political’ value, or just see it because it will make you laugh consistently for about 105 minutes. The To Do List is one of the best major studio releases of the summer.