2439. Attitude Test (2016)

Starring: Denise Rosenthal, Belén Soto, Constanza Piccoli

Director: Fabrizio Copano, Augusto Matte

Running Time: 88 mins

Attitude Test (Prueba de actitud) is a Chilean film about a group of four high schoolers who steal the paper for an upcoming exam, and after going on holiday to study beforehand, they lose the paper while partying.

Attitude Test is a pretty non-sensical movie, but that’s not really a problem if there’s some good comedy and mishaps to enjoy throughout. Unfortunately, along with an incoherent story, the film is a generally dull affair with next to no character depth in even the most obvious places, poor comedy and unlikable lead characters, all of which makes for a less-than-entertaining watch.

First things first, however, the one saving grace for Attitude Test is that it’s more boring than it is annoying. Sure, the characters are juvenile, one-dimensional and rather idiotic, but they’re so predictably stupid that it just becomes an inevitability that you become resigned to. It’s not the greatest positive to draw from a film, but I’d much rather be bored than find myself gritting my teeth in anger at the characters’ stupidity, and that’s why this isn’t quite as appallingly terrible a film as you may expect at first.

With that said, there’s very little else to praise with Attitude Test, its principal problem coming in the form of a tedious and fairly non-sensical story. Centring on a mismatched quartet who for some reason take a ‘study vacation’ prior to their big exam, as well as featuring all sorts of random subplots that just don’t quite fit into what is effectively a spring break movie unsuccessfully trying to change up the formula.

As a spring break movie, the film works fine at times, with passable party scenes and all the juvenile revelry that you’d expect to see from the genre, but when it comes to the crime-esque plot that occasionally follows the girls in their attempts to beat the exam, after stealing the paper ahead of time. However, the focus on that side of the story is so sparse that you forget about it after a while, leaving the film to its devices as a bog-standard spring break party piece.

And while it’s okay to sit back and party for a few minutes, that alone can’t carry a whole movie, and that’s where Attitude Test really falls down. With such poor comedy, the film is already a boring watch from the beginning, but it also fails to inject any character depth or intrigue into proceedings at any moment.

The premise is ripe for a riveting coming-of-age story, where the characters recognise the realities of life and shirk off their juvenile and irresponsible ways, but with the exception of occasionally mentioning the words ‘grow up’, there’s next to nothing resembling a coming-of-age arc here, and with nothing else in its place, there’s nothing to actually grab onto here, which is what ultimately makes Attitude Test such a tedious watch, and that’s why I’m giving it a 4.1 overall.