ased on movies alone, it would be easy to assume high school is a time for football, sex, dances and a little bit of studying. For those of us who know better, along comes a teen movie centered around academic achievement. Well, sort of.

  The Perfect Score is about a group of seven high school seniors who decide to pull a heist at the Princeton Testing Center so they can steal the answers to their upcoming SATs (Scholastic Assessment Tests). Along the way, they find out that there are many things in life more important than test scores.


  Not to endorse theft, but it's refreshing to see a movie that acknowledges the anxiety students often feel stemming from academic pressure. And there are make-out scenes. (Pubescent teens can't study 24 hours a day!) And while there may not be football, there is basketball. (Sports scholarships are a big post-secondary reality south of the border.)

  Many in the cast already boast impressive r�sum�s. Scarlett Johansson earned rave reviews for her work alongside Bill Murray in Lost In Translation. Erika Christensen received mass exposure in Swimfan and played Susan Sarandon's daughter in The Banger Sisters. Chris Evans sent up Freddie Prinze Jr. in Not Another Teen Movie. Kyle Labine was on the run in Freddy Vs. Jason and Halloween: Resurrection. Darius Miles had a bit part in Van Wilder, as did Bryan Greenberg in A Civil Action.

  
actors
Scarlett Johansson
Erika Christensen
Bryan Greenberg

director
Brian Robbins

location
Vancouver

outtake
Both the lead actresses were actually in their teens when they filmed the movie. Johansson was 17, while Christensen was 19.

  Directing The Perfect Score is Brian Robbins, who has proven his expertise with the teen set with 1999's Varsity Blues. With his guidance over a talented young cast, the film might score with those who know that school isn't just a warm up for the prom.

�  Dimetre Alexiou