Cinema is slowly being devalued as “content,” where Intellectual Properties trump artistic freedom and expression. The current best form of cinema is found through independent or arthouse films. Most blockbusters have failed to expand their visual and aural palette to kowtow for a specific, social-media-savvy audience. This is the number one problem plaguing our mainstream films: studios believe pre-existing IPs are the future instead of focusing on new and original stories while simultaneously pushing the boundaries of conventional modes of filmmaking. The only series excused from being conventional is the Marvel Cinematic Universe since the storylines they create have become more intricate and ambitious as the times went on. But with a film like He’s All That, a gender-swapped remake of Robert Iscove’s She’s All That, the only thing director Mark Waters and Netflix are interested in is the latest popular trends in social media, not cinema, which creates an egregiously manipulative and horribly saccharine product that will be forgotten when Stephen Herek’s Afterlife of the Party comes out next week on the streaming service.

MTV-style reality shows are so 1999, so our main protagonist is a TikTok (yes…) influencer by the name of Padgett Sawyer (Addison Rae), who is in a relationship with another influencer, Jordan Van Draanen (Peyton Meyer). When Padgett finds out that Jordan has been cheating on her with a model from his music video and has her meltdown live-streamed for the entire world to see, she loses everything, from her sponsors to her college scholarships. So to avenge her breakup from Jordan, she decides to accept a bet from her friend Alden (Madison Pettis) to turn the school’s least-known student, Cameron Kweller (Tanner Buchanan), into Prom King. And if you’ve seen She’s All That, you’ve absolutely seen He’s All That, with a few differences that completely worsen this remake.

If MTV reality TV shows were the precursor to our decade’s “look at me!” culture through social media, He’s All That only exacerbates that feeling. Both characters are extreme egocentrics on both sides of the spectrum: Padgett wants everyone to look at her amazingly posh and luxuriant life (though, in reality, she’s actually poor and lives with her mother, played by Rachael Leigh Cook, who portrayed Laney in the original film), while Cameron wants everyone to look at how disconnected everyone is and how we’ve all become egotists, through our social media filters. So both characters are complete opposites, and their chemistry wouldn’t have likely worked in real life, but here we are, and the movie needs to make them fall in love. As they get to know each other more, Padgett begins to have legitimate feelings for Cameron, and our male lead starts to get out of his shell and become more open to the world. It’s a shame that both actors are quite dismal in their roles, as they can’t imbue natural charm, the same way Freddie Prinze Jr. did with Rachael Leigh Cook in She’s All That. Iscove’s film had its share of problems, but it had damn good acting in it partly because they had a legitimate talent for the film: Paul Walker, Usher Raymond, Kevin Pollak, Elden Henson, Dulé Hill, the list goes on. He’s All That contains TV movie actors and social media influencers who know how to put a façade through their posts but can’t look nor act convincing in a legitimate film.

The only actor that had the decency to care about the film is an extended cameo from Matthew Lillard (who played the obnoxious boyfriend/MTV influencer in She’s All That) as Principal Bosch, who shares the movie’s funniest lines. Watching Lillard having a blast on set is a thrill to watch, especially when this is his first non-animated Scooby-Doo role in a film since 2017. Unfortunately, his commentary on social media culture is a little too on the nose. Still, he at least addresses the problem with our own society: we’re too busy looking at our filters instead of making a legitimate human connection. COVID has made us lose sight of this goal, as we had to confine ourselves for a year in a half inside a bubble, but now we’re slowly getting out of it and learning what it means to connect amongst others person-to-person. If only the influencer-addicted audience who are watching this dreck could ever grasp that message…

Because the only thing Mark Waters enlightens throughout this 93-minute atrocity is Padgett’s epiphany, that maybe being an influencer is bad after all! You don’t say? After talking to her social media sponsor, played by Kourtney Kardashian (literally reading her lines through a cue card you don’t see) about preserving her image, you may think the movie is propagating the wrong message to gullible teens who eat up strangers’ so-called “perfect” social-media life, even though most of it is all a lie; and that Padgett hasn’t been doing herself any favors by photographing everything and putting her whole fake life on TikTok of all platforms.

The Kardashians’ insertion in the film showcases the number one problem of our “look at me!” culture: they have made millions of dollars endorsing products and promoting their posh lifestyle while looking down at the very people who are following them. Take a look at Kim’s private island trip post for her birthday, treating her trip as being “normal” and a “simple luxury” while boasting that she can have COVID tests with the snap of a finger and take her entire family on a private island just like that “where we could pretend things were normal just for a brief moment in time.” For Kim and the Kardashians, it’s normal to rent an island, fly a private jet and have these elaborate birthday parties because they’re rich, but for the average joe who is barely making ends meet and has struggled to either find a job or keep their mental health in check during the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s a slap in the face. Influencers are propagating a dangerous outlook on life and are constantly looking down at their audience while simultaneously saying, “LOOK AT HOW WONDERFUL MY LIFE IS!”

So, whenever you see Addison Rae, a real-life influencer, regret saying that her life as a TikTok personality showed her the wrong values, there is nothing genuine about her performance or plea because she’s portraying one of her multiple façades from social media. Of course, being a social media personality filled with a plethora of controversies, Rae will use the royalties she received from Netflix to promote the film on her diverse accounts, collecting more money and making more millions while looking down at her audience worships her and contribute to her success. This is what’s wrong with influencer culture. The number one thing wrong with modern cinema is that teenagers worship false gods who continuously use them to make more money and gain more sponsors for a cyclical goal of obtaining more royalties and success. At the same time, our social media-driven audience has lost sight of legitimate human contact and their relationship with art.

Mainstream cinema has no longer become an art form since it only cares about Intellectual Property and promoting derived products. It has become pure advertisements for social media personalities and better movies. When critics are aching or pleading for cinema to be better than the usual “content” we get, it’s because we know cinema can become better and start caring about the medium first and foremost, instead of the distractions. Free Guy was a distracting film, Space Jam 2 was a distracting film, and He’s All That is the most distracting film of the year. It does nothing to please fans of the original while simultaneously presenting a shamelessly manipulative commentary on influencer culture led by two protagonists who have no chemistry together and only care about themselves. And while She’s All That wasn’t great, it at least treated its audience with intelligence and cared about the medium of cinema and the power of acting. Paul Walker bringing his signature brand of natural charm is better than quite literally any actor in this piece of hubris. And the fact that He’s All That is trending at #1 on Netflix showcases that our cinematic culture is going backward and not forwards to more ambitious and creative projects. Let’s hope the trend will die as fast as it was born…

He’s All That is now streaming on Netflix.