'The Duff' Movie Review: 'Designated Ugly Fat Friend' Fights Back

When you suddenly realize that you are a DUFF – or "Designated Ugly Fat Friend" – how would you react? This was the premise of the movie "The Duff," which opens on Friday in theaters across the country.

Based on the young adult novel of the same title by Kody Keplinger, the teen comedy film was produced by Lionsgate and CBS Films, written by Josh A. Cagan and directed by Ari Sandel. It stars Mae Whitman, Robbie Amell, Bella Thorne, Bianca A. Santos, Skyler Samuels, Allison Janney and Ken Jeong.

Whitman stars as Bianca Piper, whose two best friends are tall, beautiful, stylish, and gorgeously put-together. Bianca is none of those, and although she is intelligent and practical, she makes a lot of bad fashion choices.

One day, her neighbor, Wesley (Amell) or Wes, a handsome jock, informs her that she is the DUFF to her glamorous friends. Surprised, Bianca soon finds her life turned upside down. Her friends are understanding, but not much help, and she needed to distance herself from them in order to remove the label.

She enlists the help of an unlikely ally, Wes, and they embark on a make-over program that would finally enable her to shake off the DUFF title and attract the guy that she had her eyes on, Toby. In return, Bianca will help Wes pass Chemistry and maintain his athletic scholarship.

Although Whitman and Amell were the ones who carried the bulk of the movie on their shoulders based on their smart characterization, the rest of the cast provided just the right amount of support.

Thorne stars as the school's resident mean girl and ruthless label maker, Madison. Janney plays Bianca's distracted single mom, who is a self-help guru keen on giving pep talks. Jeong plays Bianca's kooky journalism teacher and Romany Malco plays the principal that lays down the law on connected devices.

In the end, Bianca is able to have the confidence to fight back against the people putting her down and in the process reminds everyone that no matter what people look or act like, we are all someone's DUFF, and it is just fine.