You gotta give it up for Mae Whitman. In an industry where actresses in particular are held to an insane amount of scrutiny about their looks, she broke out by playing "unattractive," thanks to her turn as bland, unmemorable Ann Veal (her?) on "Arrested Development." But let’s face it, while she’s not "starlet pretty," she’s not repulsive to the point where she makes everyone around her look better. But you’ll have to buy that premise hook, line and sinker if anything in the trailer for "The Duff" makes sense.
Based on the novel by Kody Keplinger and directed by Ari Sandel, the movie centers on Bianca, who finds out to her dismay that she’s the DUFF of her group —the "designated ugly fat friend." So in an effort to go from zero socially to zero waistline (or something), she enlists the help of hunky prime beef Wesley to give her a makeover and erase the fact that she wears pyjamas and a horror comics t-shirt to school, even though that is awesome. Basically, this sorta seems like "Mean Girls" for people who haven’t seen "Mean Girls," with the message that fitting in isn’t that important, except it kind of is.
Anyway, "The Duff" opens on February 19, 2015. Watch below.
