Review of The To Do List (2013) by Brett C — 28 Jul 2013

After graduating first in her class in high school, Brandy Klark(Aubrey Plaza) will be attending Georgetown in the fall, along with her lab partner Cameron(Johnny Simmons). In the meantime, she has a graduation party being thrown by Mormons to attend but her best friends Fiona(Alia Shawkat) and Wendy(Sarah Steele) divert her to a kegger with better music. While there, Brandy almost has a mistaken drunken hook up with Rusty Waters(Scott Porter), a hot college guy who plays the guitar. All of a sudden, Brandy realizes she has a lot more to do before the fall.

Even though there have been plenty of better and funnier teen sex comedies, "The To Do List" is probably the first one to quote Gloria Steinem. Plus, along with a message to never be too perfect and just relax, the movie is remarkably sex positive, even towards parents, in its alternately amiable and yet crude way, as performed by a likable cast.(I had to avert my eyes during one particularly gross episode.) As the movie puts it, sometimes sex is a big deal, and other times not, just as there is too much emphasis on losing one's virginity. There are even some helpful hints here, especially if one happens to be in a movie theater. All of which is good to know, not only due to the ignorance of the pre-internet era Boise the movie is set in, which probably has to do with a lack of sex education.