SPUD (2010)

Pubescent POV from an elite boarding school in the changing world of 1990 South Africa is largely interested in what’s not changing.  Not in the country, but in our protagonists’s gonads where not enough is going on.  Nicknamed ‘Spud’ to tag him as late to the puberty party, the film comes loaded with all the expected hijinks and steep learning curves for a new boy in a ward of horny 15-yr-olds who physically run the gamut from twice-daily shavers to experienced Romeos; fatties & destructive Geeks, humiliators, punch-bags & punchers and captains of secret midnight swims.  A few Black kids seem fully integrated in the mix but oddly no bromantic relationships cross the line.  (In a British styled all-boys school?  Hmm.)  With social & political issues of the day ignored, attention concentrates entirely on Spud’s budding relationships: Childless mentor/teacher with a drinking problem (John Cleese); Slow-to-build friendship with a fellow ‘spud’ wasting away from a fragile constitution; Growing self-esteem from winning the lead in the school play and attention from a couple of girls (one at home/one at a ‘sister’ school) . . . you get the idea.  Some of this is well-observed & fun, but much is glossed over, given a decidedly secondhand feel, as if the experiences were transliterated from a different alphabet into English.  Troye Sivan helps as the kid, rarely pushing for effect and singing sweetly as called for.  But too much that could have made this distinctive has been papered over into generic call-and-response comic tropes.  Followed by two lower rated sequels (not seen here).