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By BETH JONES
In "Get Over It," Short recycles those tired over-the-top facial expressions and other physical antics. His old-fashioned routine has no place in this teen flick. Both baffling and downright bad, "Get Over It" is a teen comedy made by filmmakers who are neither funny nor hip to the youth culture. Berke (Ben Foster) finds his true love with Allison (Melissa Sagemiller). Then after 16 months and three days, she dumps him. That's the first two minutes of the movie. Berke spends the rest of the film trying to win her back, which will take a small miracle since Allison has fallen for a former boy-band member with a sexy British accent. Still, Berke goes all out for his woman. He even tries out for the school play, an updated musical version of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" envisioned by the school's flamboyant yet clueless drama teacher (that would be Short). Berke's a jock with no acting experience. Luckily, Kelly (Kirsten Dunst), the little sister of his best friend, offers to help him practice. Berke is prone to daydreaming a la TV's "Ally McBeal." One recurring fantasy takes him to a magical fairy forest much like the one created in Shakespeare's "Midsummer." In addition to being visually boring, these lifeless sequences add little to the film. Neither does the running gag with the overly amorous dog that jumps on anything with or without a pulse. Neither does Sisqo's cheesy two-minute music video at the end of the film. Swoosie Kurtz and Ed Begley Jr. add some energy to "Get Over It" as Berke's progressive parents, who host a down-and-dirty romance talk show. Dunst, who proved she had comedic flair with 1999's "Dick," is another highlight of the film, though she looks about 10 years older than the film's other high-school-age characters. Screenwriter R. Lee Fleming Jr. also penned the utterly enjoyable 1999 teen film "She's All That." But in "Get Over It," he seems out of touch with teen-age life and language. Director Tommy O'Haver ("Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss") is equally clueless. He allows poor Berke to wander through most of the film dressed like a character off "Miami Vice" (that T-shirt/blazer combo went out in the 1980s.) But maybe we asked for this brainless drivel. After all, "Almost Famous," a film that shows teen-agers engaging in meaningful, real-life adventures, was largely passed over at the box office last year. "Freaks and Geeks," a smart and outrageously funny drama about young people, couldn't make it on network television. Maybe Hollywood is right to assume that audiences will shy away from material that depicts teen-agers as anything more than bundles of hormones.
Beth Jones can be reached at 777-6493 or bethj@roanoke.com Get Over It HH A Miramax release showing at Carmike 10 at Tanglewood Mall. Rated PG-13 for underage drinking and language.
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