A ridiculous fun ride…

“The Boonies” tells the story of five high school seniors, previously childhood best friends, who come together to embark on a treasure hunt after the death of a childhood friend. And just as you’d imagine, this parody is filled with all of the high school mystery tropes and stereotypes.

Doug (Calum Worthy “American Vandal” “The Act” & “Austin & Ally”), the “nerd” dies in a tragic way, but his untimely demise serves to bring together the former group of friends that he coined “The Boonies” (they attend Boone High School and its a riff on “The Goonies”) as they venture off on the quest, devised by Doug himself, to find a million dollars in a briefcase. The friends aren’t exactly “friends” anymore…its the same old story, everyone is cool when they’re younger until they get to high school and fall into the stereotypical high school clichés (the nerd, the promiscuous one, the popular guy, the dumb stud/jock, the goth/emo and the nerdy girl with the hot body who doesn’t know she’s hot). “The Boonies” need to put aside their prejudices and grudges to find the money and reconnect as friends. This film does a great job of spotlighting lost friendships and showing that we shouldn’t let superficial, petty differences ruin a good thing. As expected, in the end, the Boonies reunite and rekindle their friendships.

In total, “The Boonies” is very reminiscent of “Not Another Teen Movie” (did I ever mention how much I enjoy this movie…even though its not quality, it definitely brings the laughs) in the way the characters are portrayed and written. Especially “Holly” (played by “Halloween”‘s Andi Matichak) who is almost a carbon copy of Chyler Leigh‘s “Janey Briggs.” The cliques and stereotypes are overly exaggerated almost taking this film out of plausible reality and into the realm of far-fetched fantasy.  Just like “NATM,” “The Boonies” is not high-art or a serious film, but that’s what makes it watchable…it knows what it is and plays that up.  About a quick hour and a half, this movie is an easy watch when you’re looking for something lite that doesn’t require any heavy lifting on your part.

Also starring Amymarie Gaertner, Chris Galya (“Jessie”), Kyle Jones (“Masters of Sex”), Cody Ko, Wintergrace Williams, J.J. Nolan (“You,” “The Mindy Project”) and Lauren Elizabeth, “The Boonies” is currently streaming on all platforms: Amazon, InDemand, DirecTV, Hoopla, FLIXFLING, Vimeo on Demand, AT&T, Vudu & FANDANGO.