I first heard of this movie when Angela Kinsey (Angela from the Office) tweeted this photo. Many of the actors from the Office have done some great independent and smaller films, including The Giant Mechanical Man with Jenna Fischer, and Dan in Real Life with our beloved Steve. I was honestly expecting Angela's part to be a bit bigger, while also not expecting to see so many other familiar faces. Struck by Lightening stars Glee's Chris Colfer, with Rebel Wilson (Fat Amy) playing his awkward best friend. The films is written by Colfer, and it is also a book. Though the book did come out before the film, sources are mixed in providing info on whether the the movie was based on the book or vise versa.
Colfer plays Carson Phillips, an intelligent, snarky, high school outcast who dreams of going to Northwestern and writing for the New Yorker. Right away, I was excited about the high school and writing/literary aspects of this movie. It honestly surpassed all my expectations.
Carson's father left prior to the beginning of the plot, leaving Carson's mother in a downward spiral of constantly drinking, sleeping on the coach, and too many prescriptions to count. Carson's relationship is generally sarcastic, but he always says he loves her before he leaves the house, even when she had just been talking about how she should have aborted him when she had the chance.
Everyone at school hates Carson. He runs a newspaper that has apathetic members, highlighting him as the sole student with any passion. When his ticket to college is to create a literary journal, he decides to get students to write for him in the only way possible, blackmail.
He targets the royalty and outcasts of the school as he takes down the head cheerleader, king drama kid, the stereotypical pothead, and the head of the yearbook. Through this forced writing, these students find voices that they didn't even know they had.
The strangest part of this movie is that the main character literally gets struck by lightning and dies within the first ten minutes of the movie, and he's narrating and recalling the past events throughout the movie. Allison Janney, who plays Carson's mother, is probably the best display of quality acting in this movie when she finds out that her son had died towards the end of the film.
Though Carson has died, we get a sense that he left behind many changes. Through his constant rebellion against and questioning of his fellow students' actions, he was able to reveal to them what is actually important in life. He shows them that they have a voice and that they really are capable of great things.
Despite the few small cheesy parts of this movie, I enjoyed the comedy and the overall messages. It was able to portray coming of age in high school, individuality, and finding one's voice without the added nuisance of heavy sex scenes or really dirty humor. I would definitely recommend this one.
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