Netflix’s He’s All That: TikTok star Addison Rae was set up to fail

Since its release on Friday night, it’s already hit the top spot in Netflix’s most-watched list despite being undeniably terrible.

No one would be surprised to learn that Netflix’s He’s All That, a remake of the 1999 teen rom-com She’s All That is not very good.

Actually, it’s terrible. It’s unwatchable for anyone over 11 years old.

Because of course it is. A gender-swapped movie based off the intellectual property of a 1990s teen classic that was in itself inspired by George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion is already so many steps away from original it was bound to have lost any real identity.

Frankly, spellbound by the haze of nostalgia, people forget that She’s All That was also not very good, one of the weaker entries in an era saturated with teen movies.

Save for Rachael Leigh Cook’s performance and that Sixpence None the Richer song, She’s All That, the story of a popular high-schooler who bets he can turn a “loser” into a homecoming queen, is middling at best.

But compared to He’s All That, She’s All That is practically It Happened One Night. OK, maybe not It Happened One Night but at least the aggressively fine How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days.

But an unfavourable comparison or derivativeness aren’t He’s All That’s problem. Its main problem doesn’t even lie in the fact that it’s inexplicably both rushed and dragged out, or that its poor writing doesn’t follow its own internal logic.

Addison Rae is a TikTok star with 82 million followers and Tanner Buchanan’s past credits include Cobra Kai and Designated Survivor.

Its main issue is that it is woefully miscast. You can’t have a lead character that’s present in 90 per cent of the scenes be that flat and one-note and expect it to be remotely watchable.

You could write off He’s All That’s lead Addison Rae as a TikTok star with no acting experience whose casting was probably the brainchild of a social media marketing executive more interested in her 82 million followers than artistic merit.

It’s not Rae’s fault. If you were 20 years old and given the opportunity to be the lead of a Netflix rom-com two years after emerging from obscurity, you’d take it too. But she’s been thrown into a project that she doesn’t have the experience or skill to pull off – and the adults in the room should’ve known better.

For 90 minutes, Rae’s only expression is the unconvincing smile of a business luncheon MC who knows they’ve lost their audience to the generous pours of that $12 wine.

The only time she’s comfortable on screen is when her character Padgett is singing and dancing – that’s clearly Rae’s zone and the difference confidence makes is glaring.

What bumps even more is the cameo from one of the more interchangeable Kardashians who appears at least twice, with all the naturalism of sucralose. Which is surprising because the Kardashians had always given the impression their reality series was 100 per cent staged so you’d think she’d be able to draw on that experience.

He’s All That is already the most watched title on Netflix.

Look, this isn’t to say that all social media stars shouldn’t ever be allowed to transition to acting — Awkwafina was a YouTube sensation — it’s more a cautionary tale that being talented in one arena – singing and dancing in Rae’s case – doesn’t always translate to another platform.

And there are plenty of singers who have successfully done both (Mandy Moore and Queen Latifah) and others who proved they were more suited to just one (Madonna and Adam Levine).

You could easily imagine that if the fresh-faced 15-year-old Moore in “Candy” was breaking out in today’s media environment, she might’ve found fame through TikTok or YouTube first.

Often young stars, including He’s All That’s Tanner Buchanan and She’s All That’s Rachael Leigh Cook (who cameos here), have spent years in the trenches as child stars. Even when they’re shaky, they have undeniable charisma that makes their screen presence so watchable.

They’ve had time to hone their timing and their pitch, while others burst onto the scene from nowhere as if they were just born to rule the screen, so luminous is their star power there is no dimmer that could suppress it. You know when you see it. And you also know it when you don’t.

If filmmakers and streaming companies want to harness the power of someone’s popularity from another platform, they’d better be sure that untested person is blinding.

Because you’re not doing Rae any favours by mining her follower count while setting her up to fail. In that scenario, neither she nor the audience wins.

Rating: 1/5 (The one star is for Matthew Lillard’s cameo)

He’s All That is streaming now on Netflix

Originally published as Netflix’s He’s All That: TikTok star Addison Rae was set up to fail