Attack On The Pin Up Boys is hard to hate primarily because it has the good sense to acknowledge its own silliness, which makes watching it a whole lot more bearable. More than bearable, actually. Sometime at the half mark, I began to appreciate it for its boldness. AOTPUB crossed the threshold of silly, it’s impossible not to giggle along with the infectious fun.
When a couple of popular – and pretty – boys become victims of a shit-throwing scandal (yes, in the literal sense), what starts off as an embarrassing affair takes on a whole new spin. Originally to teach the victims a lesson for their love of extreme popularity, being a target later meant that you were good enough to be a hit (and why not?). In the dull setting of a high school, the increasingly publicised attacks have also unintentionally brought extra fame to their already popular targets, even resulting in one’s recruitment to host a local TV programme.
Playing out like a game show, the directors have freely tossed aside their pride, packaging the movie no other self-respecting director would. Take for example the super-imposed smiling face of the sun, set as the backdrop to the school campus. Or the cartoonish drooling of the victims’ fangirls. The shit in question has also been pixillated like a vulgar statement. There’s a freedom in the film you will never see elsewhere. AOTPUB is best described “entertaining trash”.
(First published at InCinemas)
