After watching the movie DUFF. I discovered there was a book! I immediately downloaded and read the entire book in one setting. Sadly, the main aspect I liked from the movie, was not in the book. I liked how in the movie, Bianca and Wesley were in the same social class. They were next door neighbors who used to play together as kids. But now they’d grown up and grown apart. The movie is about them falling back into their friendship and finding out that they mean more to each other than they want to admit. It’s the age old story of falling in love with your best friend.

In the book, not so much. Wesley is an outrageously super rich kid, who fills the void of his absent parents with girls. Super hot, super rich, every girls wants him, it’s a bit too much. In the movie, the kid is made an equal, he even has faults, he’s shown as failing one of his classes. No mention of school troubles are shown in the book. He’s basically perfect in every way, except all the sex he enjoys having. And even that is a plus, cause that is exactly what Bianca, the DUFF, ends up wanting.

In the movie, her parents are already divorced and she has a stable home life. In the book, the break-up is just starting. Her father falls off the wagon and begins drinking. And Bianca has issues with a past boyfriend. All problems she wants to forget about. What better way to do that, than having sex with the hottest boy in school? And it’s what he does, he sleeps with girls to fill his own void. It’s a perfect match up.

In the movie, that is not the theme. There is not nearly as much sex, I mean, this book had more than most eroticas I’ve read. Which shocked me since this is a book targeted at teenagers.

There is a nice moral to it all. In the end, Bianca stops judging people and learns that everyone is a DUFF in some way. No one is good at everything. And she attempts to make her relationship with Wesley more healthy, not sure that will happen, but the reader can make their own conclusions.

See my full movie review at my blog: https://mizner13.wordpress.com/2015/02/20/duff-movie-review/

What I liked: Let’s start with the positives first since there is actually very little I liked about the movie.

• The plot stays true to the novel (considering the thing I liked the best about The Host, the novel was the story, as opposed to say… the writing, I’m glad this remained the same).
• The plot remains the same pacing when it comes to major plot events. Remember how there are like three separate climaxes to the story? They’re all in the movie too.
• Part of the movie are laugh out loud funny. Some of the lines are delivered tongue-in-cheek, as if even the actors can’t believe they have to say them, ala the shirtless Twilight comment.
• Jeb is excellently cast. Just… fantastic. He almost makes up for all the other terrible actors.
• The desert scenes look fantastic… until they get into the caves and you realize you’re staring at a plaster set reminiscent of bad displays at Disney’s Epcot.
• The eyes of humans with a Host are awesome.

What I didn't like: Where to start… where to start. Oh right, the biggest problem: the actors are horrendous. I’m pretty sure Meyer and co. pick actors based on physical resemblance to characters alone and completely ignore acting capabilities. Also:

• The entire beginning of the movie is overly clinical to the point where it just looks super fake
• The super shiny silver modes of transportation that the Seekers use which look CGI’ed
• The voiceovers where Mel is resisting her host. They alternatively made me want to shudder or laugh… they’re just so bad. Not enough sincerity.
• Mel’s occasional southern accent… very occasional.
• The movie had serious pacing issues. Because it doesn’t move as fast as the books read a lot of the franticness of the situation is completely lost on screen. Instead the entire plot becomes very slow and overly dramatic/sentimental
• Have I mentioned how bad the actors are?

Overall: Redbox it if you want a good laugh. I went with two friends, one who had never read the book and another who had. The one who read the book has self-admitted “very low expectations” and liked it. The one who hadn’t read the book couldn’t fathom how that movie made it to the screen. So take it for what it’s worth, my recommendation is spend your $10 on buying the e-book rather than a movie ticket. It’s a fast read.