Valedictorian Brandy (Aubrey Plaza) has one new-fangled, obsessive goal: to tackle her brash laundry list of explicit sexual escapades as if it were just another academic achievement. Shaking off her nerdiness is another matter entirely.
The delightful Plaza (Parks and Recreation, 2012’s excellent Safety Not Guaranteed) plays off her intelligent, straight-laced yet sardonic character in spades. Let’s face it. Without her knowing performance (and that of several supporting players here) The To-Do List would likely be exposed as a rather mundane, often out-of-tune screenplay. With this exciting actress, however, we find ourselves with a refreshing comedy–big in raunch and only minimal in throwing down the requisite-for-the-genre sentimental bathos.
Being a virgin, even in 1993, carries a peer-pressure stigma alright. Brandy aims to solve the dilemma by composing a soup-to-nuts checklist of sexual endeavors, then filling out the name of her partners-in-crime as she crosses off each “step” to the ultimate goal of losing her virginity. You may be reaching for your phone to look up the slang for some sexual practices that are mentioned here but graciously left out of the film. Brandy doesn’t turn into a toad for mentioning teabagging and assorted other activities but director Maggie Carey dropped such items like hot potatoes. We’re left with relatively commonplace hijinks that gain an extra edge since it’s the gal who’s the aggressor here and the guys are often awkward bystanders.
Sure, we’re on usually male turf here so part of the considerable fun is getting all this smut from the female perspective. Carey nearly blows it by occasionally creeping over into farcical excess but Plaza repeatedly comes to the rescue by having Brandy handle it all like a perfectly balanced adult. Plaza may be 29 in real life but this is far from easy going given the screenplay’s habit of sliding in and out of inanity. Happily, genuine laughs are abundant–no less when Saturday Night Live’s Bill Hader is onscreen as Brandy’s slacker boss at her summer job at a public swimming pool. Fellow SNL regular Andy Samberg appears and impresses in an at first unrecognizable role. Rachel Bilson is also quite good as Brandy’s more experienced and way more cynical older sister. Clark Gregg, fresh off Much Ado About Nothing, mugs it up as Brandy’s squeamish Dad, who reads Rush Limbaugh and bristles at the mere thought of his daughter having sex.
All-in-all The To-Do-List holds down its concepts well enough. Just when it teeters off the edge, the adorable Plaza brings it back. It the telltale sign of a talented actress is being able to lift up ordinary material Plaza is well on her way to further success on a to-do list of a whole different sort.
3* Loads of Sexually Explict Chatter Buoyed By A Sheer Absence Of Any Nudity (out of 5*)