Wuss (Clay Lifford, 2011): USA

Reviewed by Seth Lawyer.  Viewed at AFI Fest 2011.

Wuss was a film about a high school teacher who seems to get bullied by everyone from his students to his colleagues.   He is a self-proclaimed writer with no works published who lives with his mom.  The movie starts out at his high school reunion where he meets an old crush who he tries to woo but falls short when he confesses he is a high school teacher at their old high school.   The second act involves the wuss Mitch being severely beat up by three of his “thug” students and being threatened if he tells anyone.  He is scared so he lies to everyone about what happened but his best student Maddie Worth knows the truth and has an interesting tie to these bullies in which she is able to clear everything up.  Which ultimately leads to more disaster and a growing student-teacher romance.  Clay Lifford gave us a little speech prior to the films showing and you really can see his personality come out in the way he directs the film.  He is a very witty guy and seems to have comedy down.  I just hope he becomes mainstream soon because his films would be definitely worth seeing.