"Go undercover in the battle of the sexes"
Bobby (Jonathan Silverman) is an honourable college freshman on a crusade to become his own man and stop living in his father's shadow. He and his buddy Mike (George Newbern) agree that joining the most illustrious fraternity on campus will help them make names for themselves and rid Bobby of this supposed image that he feels he has to live up to. The frat boys have other ideas. They assign Bobby as the leader of the pledge class in recognition of his father's achievements, naming him as the "sprouting embryo" of his father; his "twig". They conclude that as head of the pledges, Bobby must show them the way so that they eventually become "twigs" just like him. Twigs? Who knew fraternity life was so sophisticated?
Recycling pick-up lines directly from his father's book of love, Bobby learns that comparing eyes to "hot wax on a Buick" is a fast track to failure when he unsuccessfully woos a sorority girl at a party. A day later, he and Mike lay eyes on the commonly lusted-after Diana (Alyssa Milano), who is in the midst of a row with her long term boyfriend - widely known womanizer and jerk, Derry. Disregarding the failing advice of his father, Bobby approaches Diana but is shot down when she immediately returns to the cheating arms of her boyfriend. Luck is in short supply for Bobby when he again meets the girl from the party, who happens to be on the class enrollment staff, and in the hope she'll sneak his name down for a course which is full, butters her up with some sweet talk. To his bewilderment, he is the only male in the class and is flabbergasted to learn he has been enrolled to study the sociological impact of women in history.
Recycling pick-up lines directly from his father's book of love, Bobby learns that comparing eyes to "hot wax on a Buick" is a fast track to failure when he unsuccessfully woos a sorority girl at a party. A day later, he and Mike lay eyes on the commonly lusted-after Diana (Alyssa Milano), who is in the midst of a row with her long term boyfriend - widely known womanizer and jerk, Derry. Disregarding the failing advice of his father, Bobby approaches Diana but is shot down when she immediately returns to the cheating arms of her boyfriend. Luck is in short supply for Bobby when he again meets the girl from the party, who happens to be on the class enrollment staff, and in the hope she'll sneak his name down for a course which is full, butters her up with some sweet talk. To his bewilderment, he is the only male in the class and is flabbergasted to learn he has been enrolled to study the sociological impact of women in history.
To complicate matters further, the fraternity pledges are to begin their initiation ceremony and it is decided that their task will be the most demanding yet; stealing the historical Zeta Alpha Zeta sorority painting. With a rigorous no males allowed rule, Bobby and the pledges must decipher a way to get into Zeta Alpha Zeta undetected and leave with the prize. When hope is almost lost, Bobby switches from the all-American male and becomes British sorority girl Roberta in one final attempt at fulfilling the frat brother's demands. And the prank, miraculously, has the girls fooled. Instead of grabbing the painting and running for the door, Bobby spots Diana, and in a split second decision has turned from trickster into full-time female with the goal of getting closer to his crush - as Roberta!
Masquerading as Roberta for sorority activities and Bobby for fraternity deeds, his schedule begins to catch up with him and the frat brothers soon become displeased with Bobby's frequent unexplained absences. Little do they (bar a concerned Mike) know that their fellow brother is eating, sleeping and shopping with some of the most desirable girls on campus! Diane warms to Bobby when he invites her over for a study date but Mike's meddling pushes the couple only further apart. Diane returns to the sorority house and later comments to Roberta about her unfortunate taste in guys. As Bobby's life descends into chaos, Roberta is climbing the social ladder and her confidence has won her the title of pledge class president. While out celebrating with the girls, Roberta is approached by Derry who makes a number of forceful passes at her. Bobby and Mike scheme to have the scumbag exposed, in more ways than one, and he is found in the library with his trousers down. Consequently, Diana gives him the boot and thereafter a friendship blossoms between her and Bobby.
Downtrodden Wally, joke of the fraternity, scores a date with Roberta in Mike and Bobby's effort at boosting his low morale. An unfortunate groping incident leaves Roberta red faced and, teamed with growing pressure from the fraternity to retrieve the painting, Bobby is motivated to shed his double identity. As circumstances change romantically where Bobby and Diana are concerned, Roberta is nominated for Greek Week Queen, stalling the revealing of the mask and adding more complications when Roberta is caught undressing in Bobby's dorm room. Both lives simultaneously unravel as Diana breaks off their relationship, the brothers question Bobby's dedication as fraternity material, and Roberta's apparent affair shatters her friendship with Diana. Living as both male and female, Bobby gains an incomparable understanding of the struggles of both sexes and excels in his sociology class, confessing the truth of his two-sided personality to his teacher, who is stunned. She advises him to find a way to let the cat out of the bag for good.
Downtrodden Wally, joke of the fraternity, scores a date with Roberta in Mike and Bobby's effort at boosting his low morale. An unfortunate groping incident leaves Roberta red faced and, teamed with growing pressure from the fraternity to retrieve the painting, Bobby is motivated to shed his double identity. As circumstances change romantically where Bobby and Diana are concerned, Roberta is nominated for Greek Week Queen, stalling the revealing of the mask and adding more complications when Roberta is caught undressing in Bobby's dorm room. Both lives simultaneously unravel as Diana breaks off their relationship, the brothers question Bobby's dedication as fraternity material, and Roberta's apparent affair shatters her friendship with Diana. Living as both male and female, Bobby gains an incomparable understanding of the struggles of both sexes and excels in his sociology class, confessing the truth of his two-sided personality to his teacher, who is stunned. She advises him to find a way to let the cat out of the bag for good.
The Greek Week Queen speech is destined to go down in college history, but what will be left of Diana and Bobby?
VERDICT: ★★★ ½
The beginning of the nineties was a stale period for teen cinema. Popularity of such films had rapidly declined; the "golden age" was over. Ideas and attitudes were changing, and nobody seemed too sure what direction the genre was headed in until the major re-invention in the mid-nineties. For those early years, teen movies were few and far between, with the "college comedy" hit hardest by the sudden success of the darker themes represented in the likes of Pump Up The Volume and most notably Heathers. In that respect, Little Sister appears to have absorbed all that it could of the dregs of the eighties in the hope of riding on past successes. It seems to have taken its cues from earlier fads as far as the body swapping/gender-bending goes, and the tone, humour and style (the set and costume design ostensibly modelled on a bag of Skittles) gives it a real eighties quality. The 1993 Corey Haim direct-to-video effort Just One of the Girls, 91's Don't Tell Mom The Babysitters Dead and Buffy The Vampire Slayer from '92 are all examples of this continued - but nonetheless sparse - eighties style of film-making.
Either way, Little Sister is something of a rare breed, released at a time when others of its kind had nearly evaporated altogether. And for that, Little Sister - with all its implausibilities, transparent characters, bold colours and mawkish finale in tow - should be cherished.
IMAGES/VIDEOS: [trailer]
IMAGES/VIDEOS: [trailer]
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SOUNDTRACK:
1. Bobby - Greg DeBelles
2. Beauty and the Beast - 3 Lives
3. U Baby U - 3 Lives
4. It's You - 16 Tons on Monkies
5. Love Disaster - 3 Lives
6. Everytime We Kiss - 3 Lives
7. Check U Out - 3 Lives
8. If These Walls Could Talk - 3 Lives
9. Saved By The Girl - 3 Lives
1. Bobby - Greg DeBelles
2. Beauty and the Beast - 3 Lives
3. U Baby U - 3 Lives
4. It's You - 16 Tons on Monkies
5. Love Disaster - 3 Lives
6. Everytime We Kiss - 3 Lives
7. Check U Out - 3 Lives
8. If These Walls Could Talk - 3 Lives
9. Saved By The Girl - 3 Lives
