The To Do List

Exhibiting less grace than its sexually bumbling protagonist, the American comedy writer Maggie Carey’s debut is a dud and a two-trick pony. It alternates clumsily between cynical ’90s nostalgia and jokes about extreme sex acts, the latter of which are performed by Brandy (Aubrey Plaza), a nerdy student in 1993 Idaho. She’s got no bedroom experience, yet she wants to prepare herself for guitar-playing hunk Rusty (Scott Porter), to whom she plans on losing her virginity. That quest involves checking off items on a list with a variety of guys. Don’t be fooled, though – almost no plot exists in this ramshackle comedy, which amounts to a series of loose vignettes in which Plaza embarrasses herself trying to act alluring. Drably ugly, edited without rhythm and dominated by lacklustre performances, ‘The To Do List’ can’t even bother making its episodic action coalesce into an endorsement of female sexual independence. It’s too busy pleasing itself with lame references to Eddie Vedder and Hillary Clinton that suggest the film believes old stuff is funny because, you know, it’s old.