First Trailer for 'The Duff' stars Mae Whitman as the Designated Ugly Fat Friend

If there's anything we learned from Mean Girls it's that high school girls can be...well, pretty darn mean; especially to other girls who are supposedly their friends. Mae Whitman has built her career on playing either unremarkable girls (her??) on Arrested Development, or the rejected girl like in The Perks of Being a Wallflower, but in The Duff she gets a little bit of revenge on the mean girls in school.

After co-star Bella Thorne (Blended) had teased the trailer on her Instagram a few days ago, the first official trailer for The Duff has been released. Based on the Kody Keplinger book and directed by Ari Sandel, the film stars Whitman as the "designated ugly fat friend" of her clique of hot friends, and sets out to get some payback. In true She's All That fashion, she gets a cool makeover from a hunky dude (Robbie Amell) in an attempt to raise her social status.

So basically this looks like something that should be on The Disney Channel, but otherwise pretty inoffensive....except for the presence of Ken Jeong.  The Duff opens February 19th 2015.


The DUFF TRAILER 1 (2015) - Bella Thorne, Mae Whitman Comedy HD by MovieTrailerz

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Adrien Brody Joins 'The Septembers of Shiraz'; Terrence Howard Gets 'Term Life'; Mae Whitman is 'The D.U.F.F.'

* Adrien Brody has joined Shohreh Aghdashloo and Salma Hayek in The Septembers of Shiraz, Wayne Blair's adaptation of Dalia Sofer's novel. Penned by Hanna Weg, it's based on the "true story of a secular Jewish family caught in the Islamic revolution in Iran, and their journey to overcome and ultimately escape from the deadly tyranny that swept their country and threatened to extinguish their lives at every turn." [Deadline]

* Terrence Howard will play a small-town sheriff in Term Life, the action-comedy starring Vince Vaughn and Hailee Steinfeld. Vaughn plays a criminal low life everybody wants dead, and takes out a life insurance policy to help out his daughter. When he learns it doesn't take effect for a few weeks, he must fight to stay alive long enough for her to reap the benefits. Peter Billingsley directs, with Taraji P. Henson, Jon Favreau, and Shea Whigham co-starring.

* Mae Whitman, one of my favorite actresses who is unfortunately stuck on NBC's Parenthood, has just landed her first feature headlining role. She'll star in The DUFF, directed by Oscar-winner Ari Sandel and adapted from Kody Keplinger's novel. DUFF stands for "Designated Ugly Fat Friend", and Whitman plays a high school senior who has been designated as such by her supposed friends. Determined to reinvent herself, she gathers other DUFFs in a scheme to overthrow the school's evil queen. Mean Girls redux, maybe?

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