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Cheats
MBM Rating:
HOT ALERT: Matthew Lawrence, Trevor Fehrman

Cheats, not to be confused with a similar story called Cheaters, follows a group of four teenage students who have cheating down pat. The ringleader is a bloke called Handsome Davis (Trevor Fehrman), who has the gift of the gab and is able to break into anywhere in order to steal the latest exam paper. Think a poor-man’s version of Billy Tepper from Toy Soldiers. His buddies are your usual fare, from straight-man Sammy (Matthew Lawrence), lunatic Victor and nerdy Applebee who can write “crazy-small” so the boys can cheat.

The principal knows the boys are cheating but can’t seem to pin them down. They’re the popular guys around campus because they’ve got all the answers, which the voiceover constantly rams down our throats. But the boys remain one step ahead all the time, even when a tip-off reveals they have a copy of the janitor’s key. Handsome comes up with all the plans and puts the wheels in motion to make sure they come out on top once again.

The boys toy with the idea of giving the whole game up, some even thinking of blowing the whole scam wide open by informing the headmaster. The constant threat of expulsion or a blight on their permanent record hangs over their heads, and the conflict is that it really does get the better of a couple of them.

The action moves along at a pretty quick pace, making this lower-budget films one of the more impressive of recent times. It’s always good to be taken back to your school days when rebellion was always and issue, and this film is no exception. But there’s still nothing all that remarkable about it to make it stand out as a solid piece. It’s not a patch on Cheaters, which admittedly aims for a darker tone than this very light-hearted piece. The performances are actually quite good all round, with Matthew Lawrence and Trevor Fehrman as the stupidly-named Handsome the standouts.

Overall this is quite an enjoyable film without doing anything really remarkable to lift it up to great. For a low-budget, straight-to-video release it’s probably as to be expected, but there is some value in this film as a whole. The short running time helps to give you a pretty mindless little piece that’ll make you wish you were a bit more of a rebel during your school days. Worth a look!

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