The DUFF isn’t just your stereotypical high school movie. No, it is so much more than that. Mae Whitman stars as Bianca Piper in this hilariously adorable film about a girl who’s life gets completely turned around when she is labeled the Designated Ugly Fat Friend, or DUFF.

Her mission from then on out is to prove everyone wrong. So what else would you do but ask the most attractive and popular guy in school for advice? But, his help came with a price: Bianca’s chemistry notes. They then became quick friends, and quite possibly more than that. In a turn of events, Wesley’s evil ex-girlfriend releases a horribly humiliating video of Bianca that soon goes viral. After being internationally embarrassed, she is ready to give up. When all hope seems to be lost, her life-long crush asks her to hang out. Nervous wreck that she was, she consults Wesley. After lots of practicing what to say and how to act, she goes to his house.

Bianca was an awkward mess; tripping all over the place and saying all of the wrong things, the night couldn’t possibly get any worse. It did. Bianca was devastated when she found out the only reason her crush had invited her over was to get intel on the availability of her two best friends, Casey and Jess. She seeks out comfort in Wesley, only to discover that he is back together with his evil ex. Once again devastated, she goes home to do what any teenage girl in that situation would do: lay around in sweat pants, eat pizza and cry. Eventually, her best friends figure out what’s going on and come to comfort her. They give the classic best friend pep talk and then get each other all fancy for the infamous homecoming dance. Once they get there, everyone is shocked that Bianca looks like such a super model, especially Wesley and his evil ex. After she viciously tries to tear Bianca down, Bianca builds herself right back up and basically tells her that she really doesn’t give a crap what anyone thinks anymore.

When Wesley is elected homecoming king, he turns down his queen bee girlfriend and starts fresh with the more confident and more well-rounded Bianca. The newly happy couple live happily ever after, very satisfied with the way everything turned out.

The best part of this movie is the message it sends. At the very beginning it seemed wrong and slanderous, but as the movie progressed, the true message was revealed. No matter how bad things get, they’ll always turn back around as long as you have yourself to count on. You don’t need anyone else to stomp on you and tell you everything that’s wrong in the world.