Most high school movies tell you absolutely nothing about high school and give students unrealistic expectations about freshman through senior year. Whether students burst out into song, get in drama with the different cliques, or are run over a school bus, most movies don’t help with the eighth grader’s fear of high school expectations.

The Duff movie is different from most stereotypical high school movies. It tells it like it is, for the most part. It tells the story of Bianca, played by Mae Whitman, who is a normal teenage girl. Her friends are extremely pretty, and her annoying next door neighbor Wesley, played by Robbie Amell, labels her as the D.U.F.F.–the designated ugly fat friend. Wesley then helps Bianca to lose her label as the Duff to try to get the guy of her dreams. Instead, an embarrassing video ends up on social media and is labeled as the ultimate Duff. As Bianca struggles to find herself and write her article for the newspaper, she struggles with popular girls, talking to cute boys, and overcoming her social awkwardness.

Going into The Duff, I didn’t have high expectations. I thought there would be a view jokes, but for the most part, I felt as if it was going to be the common high school movie. But when watching it, it was a lot funnier than I thought it was going to be. Sometimes they tried to hard to be funny, but for the most part, Whitman’s character was so relatable that it was hilarious to watch her do things that I would do.

Granted, the ending was cliche and very predictable, but it was the plot and the idea of “labels” that really made this high school comedy realistic. I often got second-hand embarrassment from the character when she would act awkward, but that was what made the movie funny, and at times, serious.

Though it is far from an amazing comedy, it is definitely worth the watch, especially if you are in high school.