"“Lacks any cutting edge, or comedic aspects...”"

The FBI agent going undercover at a high-school college is a somewhat familiar narrative, as the hit-comedy 21 Jump Street – which was released earlier on in the year - bears a rather similar premise, and when comparing the two, this merely pales in comparison, as a feature that, unlike its predecessor, lacks any cutting edge, or comedic aspects.

Miley Cyrus plays Molly, a hard-nosed, uncompromising investigator, wasting her talents working alongside her father (Mike O'Malley) in taking photographs of men cheating on their wives. However, when she is propositioned by FBI agent Armon (Jeremy Piven) to go undercover at a college sorority to help protect a mobster’s daughter, she begrudgingly accepts, hoping to uncover a spy amongst the house guests.

In order to be believable in her mission, Molly must ditch the tough act and become 'Brook', a more ditzy, typical youngster who uses words such as “amazeballs”. However, as she digs deeper into the case, she meets Nicholas (Joshua Bowman), and although professional in her approach, it seems the prospect of true love is somewhat tempting, as things begin to get complicated...

Of course where Tom Vaughn's title does differ to 21 Jump Street, is that this feature is in no way aimed at an adult male demographic. I am evidently not the targeted audience, although if I was a teenage girl (I'll let you dwell on that thought for a moment) I still doubt I would enjoy this feature. I can say that because there have been similar films to this in the past, or at least films aimed at a teenage girl audience, that are enjoyable and better in many ways. Mean Girls, for example, is great fun.

In fact, I'd go so far as to say I feel a little uncomfortable watching So Undercover, what with all the slumber parties and spy cams. There is one scene where Molly and her new gang of friends are all in their underwear, just chatting away. Then you think, who is this film aimed at exactly? Miley Cyrus fans? Oh...

Vaughn is attempting to take a wry look at the high-school genre, almost parodying it by going “undercover”, as though viewing the lifestyle from an outsider’s perspective, and one that – in the form of Molly – is almost anti-college and the culture that exists. Yet So Undercover is just another generic college romance tale, despite vying to be something else. It's full of the nuances that make such films unbearable and by attempting to be a cut above films of a similar ilk, and thinking that wielding a gun makes it an action flick, it comes across even worse as it's not even revelling in its very own genre. Even the sarcastic title (like, SO undercover) is trying to take a barbed dig at such films, but it is such a film.

Cyrus isn't bad however, and shows an incredible display of maturity that has seen her forge such a career and reputation for herself despite her young age. However she is playing a character that is adverse and unfavourable towards the contemporary culture amongst young women, and the inclination to abbreviate almost every word, and use phrases likes “totes amaze”. But, she's part of that bloody crowd and one of the reasons such a culture exists. Her last film was called LOL. Need I say more?

It's easy to tell what Vaughn is trying to do with such a film, to turn the genre on its head and play around with it a little, and although respecting and acknowledging that, it fails miserably. I am, like, SO never going to watch this movie again.