Quartile rating: 6/10 · 1 rating
Feeling pressured to become more sexually experienced before she goes to college, Brandy Klark makes a list of things to accomplish before hitting campus in the fall.
The To Do List earns modest marks across the board. Its plot is a thin, one-joke premise — a type-A overachiever tackling a sexual checklist — that runs out of steam well before the finale, relying on escalating gross-out gags rather than genuine story progression. The ensemble cast, led by Aubrey Plaza in a deadpan performance that suits her perfectly, elevates the material noticeably; supporting players like Bill Hader and Andy Samberg add comic texture. Cinematography is functional at best, with flat, TV-movie lighting that does little to evoke the early-90s period beyond costume and soundtrack cues. Novelty gets a modest bump for its gender-flipped, female-driven take on the raunchy coming-of-age genre — it's rare to see female sexuality treated with this kind of unapologetic, comedic frankness from a woman director — but it doesn't fully transcend its genre roots. The ending resolves too neatly and too quickly, undercutting the character growth the film was building toward.