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Get Over It (film)
Encyclopedia
Get Over It is a 2001 American romantic comedy film
about a teenage boy whose girlfriend ends their relationship. The film was directed by Tommy O'Haver
for Miramax Films
. The film stars Ben Foster, Kirsten Dunst
, Melissa Sagemiller
, Sisqó
, Colin Hanks
, Shane West
, and Martin Short
. R. Lee Fleming, Jr. loosely based the screenplay on William Shakespeare
's A Midsummer Night's Dream
.
) were the quintessential high-school couple, but she breaks up with him immediately after the film begins. She then begins a new relationship with Striker (Shane West
), a 'foreign' student who was once the lead singer of a boy band. When Allison and Striker audition for the school's upcoming musical, Berke desperately tries to win Allison back by also auditioning for the play, despite having no theatrical talent and having a busy schedule as a member of the basketball team. Meanwhile, Berke's friends Felix (Colin Hanks
) and Dennis (Sisqó
) try to find a new girlfriend for him.
With the help of Felix's younger sister, Kelly (Kirsten Dunst
), a talented songwriter and singer, Berke wins a minor role in the play, a modern musical version of Shakespeare's comedy A Midsummer Night's Dream
called A Midsummer Night's Rockin' Eve, written and directed by the school's domineering drama teacher, Dr. Desmond Oates (Martin Short
). Striker plays Demetrius
, Allison plays Hermia
, Kelly plays Helena
, and Lysander
is to be played by the school's star actor, Peter Wong (Christopher Jacot
). But after Peter is injured in a freak accident, Striker nominates Berke to take over the role of Lysander, and, still intent on winning Allison back, Berke accepts. He gradually improves with continuing assistance from Kelly, but remains unaware of the growing attraction between the two of them. Meanwhile, Oates blames Kelly's singing for his own poorly written song and rejects her suggestions to improve it.
At a party at Berke's house, Kelly kisses Berke, but he insists that a relationship between them could not work because she is Felix's sister. She leaves him, annoyed at his unwillingness to move on with his life, and Felix, coming across the two, punches Berke. At the same party, Berke and Allison catch Striker cheating on Allison with her best friend Maggie (Zoe Saldana
), and so Allison breaks up with Striker.
On the play's opening night, the first half of the performance goes smoothly except for some onstage scuffling between Berke and Striker. During the intermission, Allison confides to Berke that she wants to get back together with him, leaving him with a difficult choice between her and Kelly. Meanwhile, Striker bribes two of the theater technicians to try and blow up Berke using stage pyrotechnics. Before the play resumes, Felix gives the orchestra sheet music for a love ballad written by Kelly to replace Oates' unpopular tune.
After the curtain rises, Kelly sings her song so beautifully that Berke is reminded of their time together and finally realizes he loves her. As the fourth act begins, he abandons his lines from the script and makes up his own verse professing his character's love for Kelly's character Helena. The audience applauds as Berke and Kelly kiss. Striker protests this change, but unwittingly signals the technicians to set off the explosion, blowing him offstage. Kelly and Berke leave the theater after the show, looking forward to their future together as they discuss the next night's performance.
Review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes
reports that 44% of 63 critics have given the film a positive review, holding an average score of 5.0 out of 10. According to the website, the film's critical consensus is, "As with most teen movies, Get Over It is entirely predictable, and there's not enough plot to sustain the length of the movie. However, it is not without its charms." The film scored a 52 out of 100 on Metacritic
based on 14 reviews. Scores ranged from San Francisco Chronicle
's generous 100 and LA Weekly's highly critical 20; the film has been called a 'lobotomised updating of A Midsummer Night's Dream
'.
The film opened at #7 in the North American box office with $4,134,977 and closed after five weeks. Based on a $10 million budget, Get Over It earned $19,900,366 worldwide.
Romantic comedy film
Romantic comedy films are films with light-hearted, humorous plotlines, centered on romantic ideals such as that true love is able to surmount most obstacles. One dictionary definition is "a funny movie, play, or television program about a love story that ends happily"...
about a teenage boy whose girlfriend ends their relationship. The film was directed by Tommy O'Haver
Tommy O'Haver
Tommy O'Haver is an American film director and screenwriter. He grew up in Carmel, Indiana, a suburb of Indianapolis. He graduated from Indiana University with a degree in Journalism and Comparative Literature. During the mid-nineties, he attended the MFA Film program at the University of...
for Miramax Films
Miramax Films
Miramax Films is an American entertainment company known for distributing independent and foreign films. For its first 14 years the company was privately owned by its founders, Bob and Harvey Weinstein...
. The film stars Ben Foster, Kirsten Dunst
Kirsten Dunst
Kirsten Caroline Dunst is an American actress, singer and model. She made her film debut in Oedipus Wrecks, a short film directed by Woody Allen for the anthology New York Stories...
, Melissa Sagemiller
Melissa Sagemiller
Melissa Sagemiller is an American television and film actress.-Early life and education:Sagemiller was born in Washington, D.C. to a political activist mother and a professional American football player father, who played in the NFL for the New York Giants and the Washington Redskins. She attended...
, Sisqó
Sisqó
Mark Durrell Andrews , known by his stage name Sisqó, is an American R&B singer and actor. He is best known as the lead singer of R&B group Dru Hill, and also for "Thong Song", a song from his first solo LP, Unleash the Dragon, that became an international hit. - Biography :Sisqó was born Mark...
, Colin Hanks
Colin Hanks
Colin Lewes Hanks is an American actor who is best known for his work as Shaun Brumder in the film Orange County and as Alex Whitman in Roswell. He also portrayed the role of Henry Jones in Band of Brothers and is currently on the sixth season of the Showtime crime drama Dexter...
, Shane West
Shane West
Shane West is an American actor, musician and songwriter. West is best known for portraying Eli Sammler in Once and Again, Landon Carter with Mandy Moore in A Walk to Remember, Darby Crash in What We Do Is Secret, and Dr...
, and Martin Short
Martin Short
Martin Hayter Short, CM is a Canadian actor, comedian, writer, singer and producer. He is best-known for his comedy work, particularly on the TV programs SCTV and Saturday Night Live...
. R. Lee Fleming, Jr. loosely based the screenplay on William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
's A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that was written by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta...
.
Plot
Berke Landers (Ben Foster) and his girlfriend Allison (Melissa SagemillerMelissa Sagemiller
Melissa Sagemiller is an American television and film actress.-Early life and education:Sagemiller was born in Washington, D.C. to a political activist mother and a professional American football player father, who played in the NFL for the New York Giants and the Washington Redskins. She attended...
) were the quintessential high-school couple, but she breaks up with him immediately after the film begins. She then begins a new relationship with Striker (Shane West
Shane West
Shane West is an American actor, musician and songwriter. West is best known for portraying Eli Sammler in Once and Again, Landon Carter with Mandy Moore in A Walk to Remember, Darby Crash in What We Do Is Secret, and Dr...
), a 'foreign' student who was once the lead singer of a boy band. When Allison and Striker audition for the school's upcoming musical, Berke desperately tries to win Allison back by also auditioning for the play, despite having no theatrical talent and having a busy schedule as a member of the basketball team. Meanwhile, Berke's friends Felix (Colin Hanks
Colin Hanks
Colin Lewes Hanks is an American actor who is best known for his work as Shaun Brumder in the film Orange County and as Alex Whitman in Roswell. He also portrayed the role of Henry Jones in Band of Brothers and is currently on the sixth season of the Showtime crime drama Dexter...
) and Dennis (Sisqó
Sisqó
Mark Durrell Andrews , known by his stage name Sisqó, is an American R&B singer and actor. He is best known as the lead singer of R&B group Dru Hill, and also for "Thong Song", a song from his first solo LP, Unleash the Dragon, that became an international hit. - Biography :Sisqó was born Mark...
) try to find a new girlfriend for him.
With the help of Felix's younger sister, Kelly (Kirsten Dunst
Kirsten Dunst
Kirsten Caroline Dunst is an American actress, singer and model. She made her film debut in Oedipus Wrecks, a short film directed by Woody Allen for the anthology New York Stories...
), a talented songwriter and singer, Berke wins a minor role in the play, a modern musical version of Shakespeare's comedy A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that was written by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta...
called A Midsummer Night's Rockin' Eve, written and directed by the school's domineering drama teacher, Dr. Desmond Oates (Martin Short
Martin Short
Martin Hayter Short, CM is a Canadian actor, comedian, writer, singer and producer. He is best-known for his comedy work, particularly on the TV programs SCTV and Saturday Night Live...
). Striker plays Demetrius
Demetrius
Demetrius, also spelled as Demetrios, Dimitrios, Demitri, and Dimitri , is a male given name.Demetrius and its variations may refer to the following:...
, Allison plays Hermia
Hermia
Hermia is a science park near Tampere University of Technology . Hermia is located in Hervanta, a suburb of Tampere, Finland. Hermia is also acting as a technology centre for its region....
, Kelly plays Helena
Helena
-First name:*Helena , Roman mother of Emperor Constantine*Helena, wife of Julian , Roman daughter of Emperor Constantine*Helena...
, and Lysander
Lysander
Lysander was a Spartan general who commanded the Spartan fleet in the Hellespont which defeated the Athenians at Aegospotami in 405 BC...
is to be played by the school's star actor, Peter Wong (Christopher Jacot
Christopher Jacot
Christopher Jacot is a Canadian actor.Jacot was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He attended Earl Haig Secondary School in the Claude Watson programme for drama with fellow actors Sarah Polley and Lani Billard...
). But after Peter is injured in a freak accident, Striker nominates Berke to take over the role of Lysander, and, still intent on winning Allison back, Berke accepts. He gradually improves with continuing assistance from Kelly, but remains unaware of the growing attraction between the two of them. Meanwhile, Oates blames Kelly's singing for his own poorly written song and rejects her suggestions to improve it.
At a party at Berke's house, Kelly kisses Berke, but he insists that a relationship between them could not work because she is Felix's sister. She leaves him, annoyed at his unwillingness to move on with his life, and Felix, coming across the two, punches Berke. At the same party, Berke and Allison catch Striker cheating on Allison with her best friend Maggie (Zoe Saldana
Zoe Saldana
Zoe Saldana , sometimes stylized Zoë Saldaña, is an American actress. She had her breakthrough role in the 2000 film Center Stage and later gained prominence for her roles as Anamaria in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and Uhura in the 2009 film Star Trek, and a starring role...
), and so Allison breaks up with Striker.
On the play's opening night, the first half of the performance goes smoothly except for some onstage scuffling between Berke and Striker. During the intermission, Allison confides to Berke that she wants to get back together with him, leaving him with a difficult choice between her and Kelly. Meanwhile, Striker bribes two of the theater technicians to try and blow up Berke using stage pyrotechnics. Before the play resumes, Felix gives the orchestra sheet music for a love ballad written by Kelly to replace Oates' unpopular tune.
After the curtain rises, Kelly sings her song so beautifully that Berke is reminded of their time together and finally realizes he loves her. As the fourth act begins, he abandons his lines from the script and makes up his own verse professing his character's love for Kelly's character Helena. The audience applauds as Berke and Kelly kiss. Striker protests this change, but unwittingly signals the technicians to set off the explosion, blowing him offstage. Kelly and Berke leave the theater after the show, looking forward to their future together as they discuss the next night's performance.
Cast
- Kirsten DunstKirsten DunstKirsten Caroline Dunst is an American actress, singer and model. She made her film debut in Oedipus Wrecks, a short film directed by Woody Allen for the anthology New York Stories...
as Kelly Woods - Ben Foster as Berke Landers
- Melissa SagemillerMelissa SagemillerMelissa Sagemiller is an American television and film actress.-Early life and education:Sagemiller was born in Washington, D.C. to a political activist mother and a professional American football player father, who played in the NFL for the New York Giants and the Washington Redskins. She attended...
as Allison McAllister - SisqóSisqóMark Durrell Andrews , known by his stage name Sisqó, is an American R&B singer and actor. He is best known as the lead singer of R&B group Dru Hill, and also for "Thong Song", a song from his first solo LP, Unleash the Dragon, that became an international hit. - Biography :Sisqó was born Mark...
as Dennis Wallace - Shane WestShane WestShane West is an American actor, musician and songwriter. West is best known for portraying Eli Sammler in Once and Again, Landon Carter with Mandy Moore in A Walk to Remember, Darby Crash in What We Do Is Secret, and Dr...
as Bentley "Striker" Scrumfeld - Colin HanksColin HanksColin Lewes Hanks is an American actor who is best known for his work as Shaun Brumder in the film Orange County and as Alex Whitman in Roswell. He also portrayed the role of Henry Jones in Band of Brothers and is currently on the sixth season of the Showtime crime drama Dexter...
as Felix Woods - Swoosie KurtzSwoosie KurtzSwoosie Kurtz is an American actress. She began her career in theater during the 1970s and shortly thereafter began a career in television, garnering ten nominations and winning one Emmy Award. Her most famous television project was her role on the 1990s NBC drama Sisters...
as Beverly Landers - Ed Begley, Jr.Ed Begley, Jr.Edward James "Ed" Begley, Jr. is an American actor and environmentalist. Begley has appeared in hundreds of films, television shows, and stage performances. He is best known for his role as Dr. Victor Ehrlich, on the television series St...
as Frank Landers - Zoe SaldanaZoe SaldanaZoe Saldana , sometimes stylized Zoë Saldaña, is an American actress. She had her breakthrough role in the 2000 film Center Stage and later gained prominence for her roles as Anamaria in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and Uhura in the 2009 film Star Trek, and a starring role...
as Maggie - Mila KunisMila KunisMilena "Mila" Kunis is an American actress. Her work includes the role of Jackie Burkhart on the TV series That '70s Show and the voice of Meg Griffin on the animated series Family Guy...
as Basin - Carmen ElectraCarmen ElectraTara Leigh Patrick , professionally known as Carmen Electra, is an American glamour model, actress, television personality, singer, and dancer...
as Mistress Moira - Christopher JacotChristopher JacotChristopher Jacot is a Canadian actor.Jacot was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He attended Earl Haig Secondary School in the Claude Watson programme for drama with fellow actors Sarah Polley and Lani Billard...
as Peter Wong - Dov TiefenbachDov TiefenbachDov Yosef Tiefenbach is a Canadian actor and musician.Tiefenbach was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He began his acting career at the age of 12, first starting off in commercials before playing the role of 'Josh Avery' in the television series RoboCop , and landed his first starring role as...
as Little Steve - Vitamin C as Herself
- Kylie BaxKylie BaxKylie Bax is a New Zealand born model and actress. She has appeared on international magazine covers, including Vogue and Marie Claire. Since 1999, Bax has appeared in several movies, including Get Over It .-Modelling career:...
as Dora Lynn Tisdale - Martin ShortMartin ShortMartin Hayter Short, CM is a Canadian actor, comedian, writer, singer and producer. He is best-known for his comedy work, particularly on the TV programs SCTV and Saturday Night Live...
as Dr. Desmond Forrest Oates
Release
Get Over It was originally rated R due to more sexual dialogue by Mistress Moira and a more explicit view of the strip club. It was cut in order to achieve the teen audience the film was aimed for.Review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
reports that 44% of 63 critics have given the film a positive review, holding an average score of 5.0 out of 10. According to the website, the film's critical consensus is, "As with most teen movies, Get Over It is entirely predictable, and there's not enough plot to sustain the length of the movie. However, it is not without its charms." The film scored a 52 out of 100 on Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
based on 14 reviews. Scores ranged from San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
's generous 100 and LA Weekly's highly critical 20; the film has been called a 'lobotomised updating of A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that was written by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta...
'.
The film opened at #7 in the North American box office with $4,134,977 and closed after five weeks. Based on a $10 million budget, Get Over It earned $19,900,366 worldwide.