The Perfect Score

Hard not to suspect this teen movie might be languishing on a shelf were it not for the fortuitous presence of Scarlett Johansson. Best friends Kyle (Evans) and Matty (Greenberg) plan to steal the results to their college entry tests. To their minds it's a reductive, unrepresentative exam related more to funding than to pupils: when scores go up, schools get more money. That said, they and their classmates (Christensen, Nam and the NBA's Darius Miles) also have more personal reasons for wanting high numbers. To this conveniently mixed-race, middle-class ensemble, Francesca (Johansson) is crucial. Her dad owns the building where the test is stored. Johansson clearly enjoys the character's scornful but secretly sweet demeanour, and the others fit their roles okay. The initial intimations of social critique don't last, but what lingers is an obvious, but valid reminder that the questions to which anyone really wants answers won't be found on a test paper.