Judging from the bland lookalike teen movies emerging from Hollywood, it appears received wisdom not to tamper with a winning formula.

Decter, who co-wrote There's Something About Mary, doesn't just tamper as much as take a baseball bat to the whole derivative genre.

His anti-hero is Dizzy Gillespie Harrison (DJ Qualls), a blip loser so low on the scale he doesn't even register on the social radar.

The object of communal derision at Rocky Creek High School, his lowest point comes when his manhood is, how can I put this, "realigned" by the class librarian.

Realising the only way to reinvent himself is too get expelled, Diz systematically breaks every rule... and ends up in prison.

There he meets hard-nosed, fast-talking lag Luther (Eddie Griffin), who takes him under his wing and radically transforms him from dud to stud.

OK, so by now you'll have realised the plot has departed from reality - even Tinseltown reality - quite along way back down the line.

But such is the infectiousness of the humour, the likeability of the characters and the sheer off-the-wall nature of the plot, you don't really care.

Decter's free 'n' easy attitude to authenticity frees the story up to crack gags at the expense of every minority protected under PC guidelines.

You could argue that this has done before - ie American Pie and There's Something... - but this is done with such wit and verve that it shifts up another gear.

A winning DJ Qualls is superbly supported by (his unfortunate doppelganger) Lyle Lovett and a teen cast that seem to revel in their new-found freedom.

You'll hate yourself for liking it but, as Dizzy's guidance counsellor points out, "denial is not just a river in Egypt".

Tim Evans