I was going along with this flick thinking it featured a much more interesting character than plot… until the end where even my cold, calculating heart might have both melted a little and been betrayed all at once. Yeah, this is better than I thought it was going to be even while actively watching it. It’s a cool flick with a cool lead.

Honor Society stars Angourie Rice as Honor… one of the top four students in her high school. She needs to make sure she’s in the number one spot which means conniving, scheming, and a lot of social engineering. She’s classic Slytherin… not necessarily evil, but definitely sly and manipulative. Her friends would say she was a snake in the grass if, indeed, they saw her coming. She’s not evil… she just knows what she she wants and works hard to get it. At all costs. With a smile on her face.

Honor is not your typical lead in any kind of movie and I love that about her. Any movie that gives us a character that doesn’t adhere to societal norms (or Hollywood norms) is alright in my book. Closest analog might be a more borderline sociopathic Ferris Bueller. But she’s not looking to take a day off and rescue an anxiety-ridden friend.

And I hope that that’s where the character would remain… that she wouldn’t get the typical Hollywood makeover, learn Valuable Life Lessons, and become what society would deem a better person. Whether she does or not, you’ll have to see. But I did come away thinking they’d threaded the needle well. It wound up feeling both warm and cozy and cold and calculating at the same time.

This was a smart one, starring a smart one… I wanted to give it a 4 for the character and actor but was settling on a 3 for the story. But it managed to get one over on me in a smart way, leaving our lead changed…. but not too changed. So it earns a score right down the middle.

Ten points for Slytherin.

Score: 81