How does a high school valedictorian end up being so dense that she believes she has to try a notebook page full of sexual activities before heading off to college? I'll buy that intelligence and academic ambition don't necessarily translate into social savvy. But forcing such naivete on a person who picks nits over “who” and “whom” doesn't do The To Do List any favors.
Because Brandy (Aubrey Plaza) is a Type A overachiever who hasn’t made time for carnal pleasures, she’s ridiculed with a cruel enthusiasm so over the top, it's hard to believe her tormentors are real human beings. When she decides she has some catching up to do, Brandy goes through her sex list with the same passionless efficiency we assume she went through her studies. Director/screenwriter Maggie Carey reaches for the obvious humor: uptight Brandy clinically experiencing sexual acts; Brandy mocked for being a virgin and having a flat chest. The latter should put us squarely on her side. Problem is, Brandy isn't particularly sympathetic. At no point does her quest for sexual experience seem like anything more than what it is — a series of boxes to tick. That, it can be argued, is part of the joke, one in keeping with Brandy's high-achiever personality. But there's no reason to care about someone like that unless the sexual experiences cause some positive, believable shift in personality. In this case, they don't, and Plaza has little to offer the role but the bug-eyed, deadpan stare she uses on Parks and Recreation.
Absent any human interest, what's left is a teen comedy that takes place in 1993, a setting that begets nary a worthwhile joke, but plenty of pop-culture references, as if the mere mention of Growing Pains or a pager is funny. Laughless cameos by Andy Samberg and Jack McBrayer compound the errors and missteps. Carey’s husband, Bill Hader, fresh off his final season on Saturday Night Live, has a substantial supporting role as a community pool manager and gets a producer credit. Clark Gregg (The Avengers), gets to play Brandy’s repressed Republican dad who reads Rush Limbaugh’s The Way Things Ought to Be.
All of these characters are stranded in half-assed set pieces that aren't as funny as they could have been if done with some effort. Carey sets up interesting situations, then fails to see them through. Despite this, there are laughs here to be enjoyed, and Carey keeps things light and moving at a brisk pace.
What we get in The To Do List is sex that's unsexy and newfound sexual savvy portrayed as boring. It makes sexual experimentation no fun, revealing the film's confusion about its purpose. And for a movie that tries so hard to be outrageous and risque, it comes off as tame. Much like the hunk Brandy pursues throughout the movie, The To Do List ends up promising more than it can deliver.
