Mitch teaches English at the same high school he went to growing up. He lives at home with his mother and sister, who treat him with a kind of disinterest (his mother) or utter disdain (his sister). He's going nowhere, and what's worse, he gets trounced by some of his students one night and is too scared to report the violence to he authorities. Mitch is a wuss. But when his student Maddie decides to stick up for him, he may be in over his head.
As strange a story as it sounds, Wuss is at once believable because of its lead actors. Mitch (Nate Rubin) and Maddie (Alicia Anthony) are both completely developed and likable, despite the uncomfortable nature of their relationship, and they play off each other wonderfully throughout the film. Mitch's friends are hysterically vulgar, playing drunken games of Dungeons & Dragons in the basement, and provide a lot of laughs, given you're prepared for the onslaught of off-color obscenity that's hurled over the course of the movie. Most of the performances are not only good, they're outstanding.
...With a few exceptions: Maddie's sister is totally unbelievable. She appears to be on the verge of laughter when she's supposed to be furious and it manages to really throw off the balance of the scenes that she's in. Her delivery feels canned and inauthentic. Mitch's sister as well is pointlessly, ruthlessly unpleasant. Tony Hale's funny here, but he's given a little too much screen time and not nearly enough to do with it. The end is also disappointingly abrupt, especially after all the intense emotional action that leads right up to it. Rather than sprint to the finish, Wuss seems compelled to throw in the towel.
Even without a memorable final act, though, Wuss really captured me while I was watching it. It kept me on the edge of my seat and kept me laughing. I'm excited to see where the people involved in this one go. Check Wuss out. You'll be pleasantly surprised.
