Taglines: Rules aren’t for everyone
Rafe Khatchadorian (Griffin Gluck), who enjoys a passion for art and has an incredible imagination, transfers mid-year to Hills Village Middle School after being kicked out of his previous one. On his first day, he meets the strict and exceedingly vain Principal Ken Dwight (Andy Daly) and his stern, obsequious Vice-Principal Ida Stricker (Retta).
Dwight runs the school with an iron fist and forces students to comply with an extensive list of rules that are mostly senseless and unlawful ones while Stricker follows along with his antics. Later that day, an assembly focused on the BaseLine Assessment of Academic Readiness standardized test, led enthusiastically by Dwight, is interrupted when another student grabs Rafe’s sketchbook in which he had humorously drawn the principal as a zombie repeating “B.L.A.A.R.” over and over. Dwight responds by destroying the sketchbook, much to the dismay of Rafe as it had been filled with his personal work.
Later that day, Rafe is back in his room with his best friend Leo (Thomas Barbusca) who suggests that to get even, Rafe should destroy Dwight’s rule book. To show the ridiculousness of Dwight’s rules, Rafe and Leo pull several pranks such as papering the walls of the hallways as well as Dwight’s office with colored sticky notes, changing the period bell to end with the sound of flatulence, filling the teachers’ lounge with plastic balls, putting pink hair dye in Dwight’s hat, and turning the trophy case into a fish tank complete with coral and several sea creatures, including an eel. These pranks gain the attention and admiration of Rafe’s fellow students, including Jeanne Galletta (Isabela Moner), the lone member of the AV Club who also sees the pointlessness of Dwight’s rules. Leo suggests strongly to Rafe that he not reveal himself just yet.
In the midst of the chaos, Dwight, obsessed with his school’s performance on the BLAAR, realizes that if he can stop the remedial class, which includes Rafe, from taking the test, then the average scores will improve enough to earn a number one ranking and a generous bonus for him and Stricker. To rig the BLAAR, Dwight frames several students from the class by secretly putting items in their lockers that make it appear like they were responsible for the pranks, and suspends the whole class for a week.
He also uses the opportunity to unlawfully fire Mr. Teller (Adam Pally), the compassionate remedial class teacher who, along with the other teachers, disagrees with Dwight and Stricker’s antics and sees through Dwight’s plan. Rafe immediately goes to Dwight’s office and begs him not to suspend the other students since he was the one responsible for the pranks; when Dwight refuses, Rafe creates a crazy dance party by activating the sprinkler system and fire alarm, which soaks the school and the students in colored dye that was intended to be yet another one of his pranks, which prompts Dwight to expel Rafe permanently.
Now expelled from Hills Village Middle School, Rafe is confronted by his mother Jules (Lauren Graham) who tells him that her fiancé Carl “Bear” (Rob Riggle), who seriously loathes Rafe and his sister Georgia (Alexa Nisenson), has found a military school where Jules should consider sending him. While acknowledging that it is not ideal, it represents what may be the only option left. She also pauses to reflect the passing of Rafe’s younger brother Leo, two years earlier, revealing that Leo had been imagined the whole time.
Later that evening, Jeanne shows up at Rafe’s house with concrete evidence: a VHS tape containing a documentary about the school she had recorded of Dwight putting the items “found” in the student lockers himself. With this evidence, Rafe, Jeanne, and Georgia gather the suspended students from the remedial class outside the middle school, along with the disgruntled janitor Gus (Efren Ramirez), who also dislikes Dwight’s rules, and pull together a plan to get revenge on Dwight and Stricker.
The next morning, Jules discovers that neither Rafe nor Georgia are home and becomes concerned about their disappearance, but when Bear shows more concern in the fact that his car (a red stick-shift 2009 BMW 328i (E90) sedan with doors that sometimes jam when opening) is missing as it was stolen by the kids, she finally realizes that he is nothing more than a selfish jerk, as Rafe claimed.
Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life is a 2016 American live-action/animated family comedy film directed by Steve Carr and written by Chris Bowman, Hubbel Palmer and Kara Holden, based on the 2011 novel of the same name by James Patterson and Chris Tebbetts.
The film stars Griffin Gluck, Lauren Graham, Rob Riggle, Isabela Moner, Retta, Thomas Barbusca, Andy Daly, and Adam Pally. It follows a middle school student who sets out to break every one of the many rules made by his domineering principal. Principal photography began on November 21, 2015 in Atlanta, Georgia. Lionsgate released the film on October 7, 2016. It received mixed reviews and has grossed over $23 million.
Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life
Directed by: Steve Carr
Starring: Griffin Gluck, Lauren Graham, Alexa Nisenson, Andrew Daly, Thomas Barbusca, Retta, Isabela Moner, Isabella Amara, Madeleine Stack
Screenplay by: Chris Bowman, Hubbel Palmer
Production Design by: Perry Andelin Blake
Cinematography by: Julio Macat
Film Editing by: Wendy Greene Bricmont, Craig Herring
Costume Design by: Olivia Miles
Set Decoration by: Melinda Sanders
Music by: Jeff Cardoni
MPAA Rating: PG for rude humor throughout, language and thematic elements.
Studio: Lionsgate Films, CBS Films
Release Date: October 7, 2016
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