Assassination of a High School President

Starring: Reece Thompson, Mischa Barton, & Bruce Willis 

Rating: 3 1/2 out of 5 stars

Assassination of a High School President is an ambitious independent film that tells a terrific story. It is also Directed by a first timer, who really wasn't sure what direction the film should take. Touching on many genres, it manages to succeed adequately at all of them, but gives us little more than the great story it started out with. Bobby Funke (Reece Thompson) is the male answer to Veronica Mars, but he's not a detective, he works for the paper, or at least he wants to. Out of nowhere the biggest story in school history manages to fall into his lap and the introverted Funke, quickly gains popularity in revealing who stole the S.A.T.'s. Funke soon comes to question his initial accusation and digs deeper to uncover a conspiracy that could rock his small Catholic school to it's core. I'd never seen Reece Thompson in anything before, but he does a tremendous job at playing up all the right angles. From a bullied Sophomore to a school hero and even a man on a mission, Thompson cuts through it all with ease to give an amazing performance. He's paired with Mischa Barton, who is off the charts hot and tries to distract Bobby with everything he's wanted since the third grade. Bruce Willis adds to the already talented cast, by playing a hysterical principal who suffers from P.T.S.D., and runs his school like an army base. While the film isn't quite a comedy or a drama, it features a lot of both, while telling us a really well thought out story. The talented cast and the even more talented writers, more than make up for the Directors inexperience and really make this film a winner. Going into this movie, I had a feeling it was just going to be another awful High School comedy, but it really is so much more than that. The ending puts it all over the top and will just blow your mind. The Assassination of a High School President is very reminiscent of the show, Veronica Mars, except that it's a bit more edgy and maybe that's what it needed to survive. Bobby Funke lives the dream of every bullied student and teaches us something about the way teenagers think at the same time. It's an interesting film that certainly has it's ups and downs, but in the end, the good most certainly outweighs the bad.