How to Lose a Popularity Contest follows a girl named Ellie ( Sara Waisglass) who is extremely clever and nerdy but always acts and dresses perfectly and isn’t popular at school. She attends the same school as Nate (Chase Hudson), a popular, show-off boy who is a little dumb and sometimes unkind—though not exactly a bully. After Ellie’s boyfriend breaks up with her for being too controlling, and Nate’s girlfriend also ends things with him, Ellie comes up with a plan. She decides to help Nate run for school president so his ex-girlfriend will see that he’s smarter than he appears and take him back. At the same time, this will make Ellie’s ex, who is also running for president, jealous when he sees her spending time with Nate. Both Ellie and Nate hope their plan will help them win back their exes, but, like in most romance films, they eventually realise they have feelings for each other.

How to Lose a Popularity Contest is a good film with a nice story. Sara Waisglass and Chase Hudson work well together and have good chemistry with each other. The times the chemistry showed more between the two actors were for the more emotional moments and scenes. I thoroughly enjoyed how Chase brought a very show-off personality through his facial expressions and the way he spoke. It was great seeing his acting range change to something less like that as the film went on. Sara is great at bringing comedy through her facial expressions, but I also thought she was good at acting perfectly, which suited her role and made her character believable.

I enjoyed the plot as it was sweet although it was nothing amazing. I thought the film was far better than the trailer made it seem. The ending was very obvious that the two leads would fall in love but the story still kept my interest. The movie has small emotional moments throughout that bring more depth to the characters and help the audience understand their feelings and motivations better.

One thing that made me enjoy Nate’s character more is that, although he could be mean at times, he was never a bully or as cruel as one. It also seemed like he had matured since earlier years, so despite acting silly, he appeared to have grown as a person. The film was also good at showing that one of the reasons he acted the way he did was because no one close to him believed in him, and we got to understand his character better. One scene I found slightly funny, and another thing I liked about Ellie, which I found very sweet, was how she would often get lost in her ex’s eyes and completely switch off from the world around her. In those moments, it felt as though nothing else mattered to her, which clearly showed how deeply she cared about him and how emotionally invested she was in the relationship, despite being broken up with. 

This showed how passionately she cared. However, I also appreciated how Ellie grew as a person throughout the story. Her character grew throughout, and she began to recognize when she was mistaken and took responsibility for her actions, learning from her mistakes and growing as her character. I also loved Ellie’s summery outfits, especially the skirts, as she dressed like a super popular, perfect girl despite not actually being popular. I thought this was a clever touch because it showed how she wanted to fit in and be considered confident and stylish, even when she didn’t feel that way. Costume choices like this helped reflect her personality and added extra detail to the film. 

Unfortunately, despite being labeled as a comedy, I didn’t find the film very funny. Instead, I felt it was more of a sweet, light-hearted romance with a few humorous moments rather than a rom-com. I was able to watch some bloopers from the film, and you can tell how much fun the cast had filming. 

Overall, while it wasn’t a wonderful film, I still found it enjoyable and easy to watch. It’s nice to have a sweet movie like this, especially because we don’t get as many teen school films anymore, and I really love that genre. It offers light-hearted fun that you can easily relax to and feel comforted while watching. I would also love to see a sequel so we could watch these characters interact again, even though the film doesn’t necessarily need one.