The Prank | SXSW 2022 Film Review

Everyone had that one high school teacher whom you look back on as the devil in disguise. A ruthless dictator that demanded the purist of attention paid to their curriculum, lest find yourself flunked out of a scholarship or possibly sent forth to the principal’s office. If you had such a teacher, you probably tinkered with a maniacal prank to set them straight, perhaps even punish them for their relentless dominance of your educational career. How about maybe even framing them for murder?

This is the setup for director Maureen Bharoocha‘s The Prank, a dark comedy sharing tones equally with films such as Heathers and The Faculty. Ben (Connor Kalopsis) is an anxiety-ridden teen on the verge of a scholarship where every grade matters. Threatening his scholastic future is Mrs. Wheeler (Rita Moreno), a delightfully malevolent and widely feared physics teacher who has just uncovered a cheater in their midst. She sets the grounds clearly: the cheater comes forward, or the entire class will fail.

Ben’s panic leads him to enlist his best friend, Tanner (Ramona Young), in a trite discussion on ways to get Mrs. Wheeler out of Ben’s way. Tanner is technically savvy, and decides to cleverly manipulate social media to frame Mrs. Wheeler as the murderer of a prominent missing local, just long enough to cause her enough ill-will that the principal will refuse to support Wheeler’s intention to fail an entire class. Of course, things quickly spiral out of control when the police begin looking at Mrs. Wheeler as a potential suspect, and she will not take this accusation lightly.

The Prank’s screenplay by Rebecca-Flinn White and Zak White has a fairly glorious if not farfetched setup. Nothing about this idea sounds particularly plausible nor sensical, especially coming from two intelligent characters such as Tanner and Ben. Then again, in this day-and-age, it also isn’t too far of a stretch. I mean, if a kid will break his femur for clicks, who couldn’t see them framing a spiteful physics teacher for murder?

The film’s issue stems from the second half, when we get a deeper layer to this onion, and the script devolves into horror conventions that have been utilized far too often in films with a firmer grip on the tone. The details are a bit too revealing to delve into with a review, but the final act in particular needed a bit more snap or panache to truly mesh with the concept being sold.

As Ben and Tanner, Kalopsis and Young are a light-hearted duo in way over their heads, and an enjoyable presentation of platonic friends who have each other’s backs (minus a fairly convoluted friction session near the end). The two actors make the most of their starring roles, Kalopsis has anxiety down to a science and Young’s energy-drink fueled vivaciousness is contagious. Though framing a teacher seems drastically insane, they at least make you somehow root for them not to spend life in prison as a result of their idiotic plan.

The Prank’s enjoyability really ride-or-dies on Hollywood legend Rita Moreno’s performance though, and Moreno clearly relishes the opportunity to play fiendishly against type as the merciless Mrs. Wheeler. It’s fairly difficult to make a person smaller in stature feel positively threatening on screen when confronting the likes of Keith David, yet Moreno does just that. Wheeler’s brisk confidence, sheer dominance in her field, and refusal to back down intimidates all in her path. There is another film to be made here about why so many would fear such a woman rather than admire her, but that is for another time. Mrs. Wheeler is a tyrant, and she will suffer no fools. And it was an absolute pleasure to watch Moreno embrace the wickedness obviously residing deep in the well of her soul.

The Prank is a darkly rich comedy that explores the possibilities of exploiting modern high school social constructs for nefarious results. Though the second half stumbles a bit as it lacks that final act worthy of Moreno’s talents, it still serves as an entertaining cinematic fantasy of the potential ire we could exact on those dominatrix teachers in our past. It also leaves us with one of the best performances of Rita Moreno’s career.

Follow our further discussion on this and over 25 other film and episodic premieres screened at SXSW 2022 via this episode of The Hollywood Outsider podcast: