The Perfect Score

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
They mean business.

The Perfect Score (2004) is a teen heist film directed by Brian Robbins, starring Chris Evans, Bryan Greenberg, Scarlett Johansson, Erika Christensen, Darius Miles and Leonardo Nam as six students whose futures will be jeoparized if they fail the upcoming SAT exam. In order to prevent this, they conspire to break into the building and steal the answers for the upcoming exam, which will allow them all to get perfect scores. The film deals with one's future, morality, individuality, and feelings.

The film has similarities to other high school movies, including The Breakfast Club and Dazed and Confused, which are often referenced throughout the film. However, the film was panned by most critics and performed quite poorly at the box office, losing out to the ironically named dance film, You Got Served.


Tropes used in The Perfect Score include:
  • Adrenaline Makeover: Happens to Anna by the end of the movie.
  • Anvilicious: The film is very much against the SAT's existence.
  • Cloudcuckoolander: Roy. Between being stoned and pretty pervy, Roy is quite the strange character.
  • Dawson Casting: Chris Evans was 22 at the time. Averted with Scarlett Johansson who was nineteen despite having previously played characters in their twenties.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Francesca.
  • Fan Service: Panty shot at the computer.
  • Fun with Acronyms: SAT is used by the characters for a variety of puns, notably "Suck-Ass Test".
  • Genius Ditz: Roy. In Spades.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Francesca who, despite being quite bitchy, wants to either own a no kill animal shelter or be a stay at home Mom who actually cares for her children.
  • Lampshade Hanging
  • My Beloved Smother: A Tropes Are Not Bad-version. Desmond's mom want's to make sure Desmond doesn't glide into college on a basketball scholarship and gets Roy to quit smoking and actually study.
  • Parental Abandonment: Francesca's Father
  • Retroactive Recognition: Apparently Captain America and Black Widow knew each other before Nick Fury put them together.
  • Rich Bitch: Subverted. Francesca's father owns the regional office of ETS, but Francesca is very much against it and the corrupt school system (in her eyes) that has used the SAT to its advantage, rebelling against her background.
  • Stoners Are Funny: Roy.
  • Where Are They Now: The film ends with a montage showing where each of the six main characters ending up after taking the SAT.
  • You Shall Not Pass: Matty lets himself get caught by ETS security in order for Francesca to escape with the others.