The first trailer for The DUFF has been released, and it tries to convince us that Mae Whitman (her?) is ugly and fat.
As is explained in the trailer, The DUFF revolves around the premise that in every group of friends there is one “Designated Ugly Fat Friend,” or a “DUFF.” In the film, this character is played by Mae Whitman.
There’s just one problem. Mae Whitman is neither ugly nor fat. Sure, she’s not a supermodel, but she is without a doubt an attractive woman. And while she’s obviously adult enough to play this kind of role and not suffer any self-image issues, it’s really not her we’re concerned about.
The DUFF is quite clearly a film aimed, at least in part, at young girls. It’s bad enough that girls see unobtainable female bodies presented as what is beautiful everywhere. And to have a movie like The DUFF come along and say that someone built like Mae Whitman is fat and ugly? There’s something wrong there.
Based on Kody Keplinger’s novel of the same name, The DUFF looks to be something of a stripped-down version of a popular book. Its ratings of 4.3/5 on Amazon and 3.93/5 on GoodReads are evidence on how good the book is, and we can’t help but feel the film won’t be quite as nuanced and impressive.
Starring alongside Whitman in the cast are Robbie Amell (a 26-year-old former model who totally looks like a high school student), Bella Thorne, Allison Janney, Skyler Samuels, and Bianca A. Santos, among others.
The DUFF was directed by Ari Sandel, and it is his feature length directorial debut. He’s perhaps best known for directing all 10 episodes of Aim High. The book was adapted for the screen by Josh A. Cagan, also making his feature length debut. Cagan is best known for writing all six episode of Undergrads, and his screenplay was included on the 2011 Black List, though that’s not always a great indicator for screenplay strength.
A poster was also released:
