We meet Reese ("Rocket Science") Thompson's Bobby Funke (pronounced "funk" though rarely by anyone in the movie), a hard-nosed high school reporter wannabe, as he introduces the cast of high school archetypes using a potboiler inspired voice-over that quickly sets up the film's premise. Assigned to interview the school president Paul Moore, Bobby is in the right place at the right time to break the story when Moore is caught stealing the school's completed SAT tests. Bobby is convinced that Paul was framed, so he continues his investigation, trying to get information about Paul from those who knew him, and soon finds himself batting out of his league as he gets closer to Paul's ex-girlfriend Vanessa, the school's popular hottie played by Mischa Barton.

Much of the film's humor comes from the way that the filmmakers have taken familiar elements from classic crime noir and found corresponding analogies within the world of high school students—most of the young women are seductive femme fatales while the detention hall is more like a prison. While Rian Johnson used a similar model for his debut "Brick," this is a very different approach that takes a lighter approach to high school that doesn't involve any deaths, regardless of the misleading title. There are plenty of laughs in the hardboiled narrative, but it also blends more of the typical sexual jokes that appear in broader high school far though never going quite so far as "Superbad" for its laughs, instead making the humor more about the archetypical characters and their behavior.

Brett Simon is an incredibly skilled filmmaker in the way he has taken this sharp, smart script, cast it with an ensemble of incredibly talented young actors, then combined it with classic film imagery and an uber-cool soundtrack of well-selected current and vintage tunes to create a movie that's constantly entertaining despite treading familiar ground.

Simon's best move may have been casting Reese Thompson in the lead, as the young Canadian actor is well on his way to becoming this generation's John Cusack, an unlikely but generally likeable leading man who can pull off nerdy cool right up there with the likes of Michael Cera. After the strong performance he gave in "Rocket Science," "Assassination" continues to lay the groundwork for what should be a strong career of memorable characters. After this movie, he should also be the envy of 90% of the male population due to his make-out scenes with Barton. Melonie Diaz continues to be everywhere at Sundance, here playing the editor in chief of the school paper and Bobby's original object of desire before hooking up with Vanessa. As is often the case, Josh Pais steals every scene he appears in as a flamboyant Spanish teacher, while Bruce Willis is also in fine comedic form as the school's military-minded principal. The great thing is that experienced adult actors never hog the glory from the kids.

The film's biggest detriment is that there are way too many characters, creating a plot that's hard to follow even when Bobby explains how all the characters are connected in the film's climax. For the most part, the gags and double entendres come at you so fast that not all of them deliver the intended payoff either.

Still, "Assassination of a High School President" is a welcome addition to the genre and with a better (i.e. shorter) title, it could find a large audience of college and older moviegoers looking for something smarter than the normal high school comedies fare that Hollywood has to offer.

Rating: 8.5/10