''The Outcasts'' is a 2017 American

teen Adolescence () is a transitional stage of physical and psychological development that generally occurs during the period from puberty to adulthood (typically corresponding to the age of majority). Adolescence is usually associated with the te ...

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

directed by Peter Hutchings. The film features an ensemble cast, starring Victoria Justice,

Eden Sher Eden Rebecca Sher (born December 26, 1991) is an American actress, best known for her roles as Sue Heck from the family sitcom series '' The Middle'' (2009–2018) and as Star Butterfly from the Disney Channel animated fantasy dramedy series ...

Ashley Rickards Ashley Nicole Rickards (born May 4, 1992) is an American actress, known for her role as Jenna Hamilton in the MTV comedy-drama series ''Awkward'', and as Samantha "Sam" Walker, a troubled young girl in The CW's teen drama series ''One Tree Hil ...

Claudia Lee Claudia Lee (born Claudia Lee Mirkowski; ) is an American actress and singer who is best known for her roles as Magnolia Breeland on ''Hart of Dixie'', as Bridget on ''Zeke and Luther'', and as Whitney in '' The Outcasts''. Early life Lee was ...

and

Katie Chang Katherine Chang (born May 3, 1995) is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Rebecca Ahn in ''The Bling Ring'' (2013), Ellen Reeves in '' A Birder's Guide to Everything'' (2013) and Claire Connors in '' The Outcasts'' (2017). Early l ...

. The plot follows a group of misfit teenagers who band together to overthrow the popular clique at their high school. Originally titled ''The Outskirts'', filming took place between July and August 2014. The film was released in limited theaters and through

video-on-demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of o ...

on April 14, 2017, by Swen Releasing and Red Granite International.

Plot

Best friends Mindy and Jodi have suffered years of torment under the thumb of the school's mean girls Whitney and Mackenzie. They plan to ride out their senior year under the radar, but when they become the victim of a humiliating prank, the two hatch a plan to unite the outcasts of the school and start a social revolution. They join forces with Dave, an affable slacker, Claire, a Girl Scout with a secret, and Virginia, an overachiever with dirt on everyone.

Cast

* Victoria Justice as Jodi Schellenberger, a music nerd who is Mindy's best friend. *

as Mindy Lipschitz, a science nerd who is the brains of the revenge operation and is Jodi's best friend. *

as Virginia Vanderkamp, a depressed loner with money who helps Mindy and Jodi with their plan. *

as Whitney Bennett, a ruthless evil popular girl who takes down anyone trying to be her equal. It is revealed that she is not rich and that her parents work in the mansion and live in the servants' quarters. *

as Claire Stewart, a Girl Scout who comes out as lesbian. * Jazmyn C. Richardson as Dolores "Sugar" Jones, a young woman who is part of Mindy and Jodi's master plan, and also wants to stand up for black rights and

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...

. * Peyton List as Mackenzie Smith, the youngest and closest of Whitney's friends. She dumps Whitney to hang out with Mindy. *

Avan Jogia Avan Tudor Jogia (; born February 9, 1992) is a Canadian actor. He first received recognition for portraying Danny Araujo in the television film '' A Girl Like Me: The Gwen Araujo Story'' (2006). After moving to the United States in his late te ...

as Dave Quinn, Jodi's boyfriend who used to be one of Whitney's minions. * Harry Katzman as Louie Hammerschmidt, a

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...

nerd. *

Noah Robbins Noah Robbins is an American actor. Background Robbins is a native of Washington, D.C. and graduated from Georgetown Day School in 2009. Robbins made his Broadway debut in the 2009 production of ''Brighton Beach Memoirs ''Brighton Beach Me ...

as Martin Vimmel, a

sci-fi Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel universe ...

nerd. *

Alex Shimizu Alex Shimizu is an American actor of Japanese descent. Early life Shimizu was born and raised in Manhattan, New York. He began his career as a dancer for the National Dance Institute while attending Hunter College Elementary School. He was me ...

as Howard Chang, a

tech Tech or The Tech may refer to: * An abbreviation of technology or technician * Tech Dinghy, an American sailing dinghy developed at MIT * Tech (mascot), the mascot of Louisiana Tech University, U.S. * Tech (river), in southern France * "Tech" ...

nerd. *

Frank Whaley Frank Joseph Whaley (born July 20, 1963) is an American actor, film director, screenwriter, and comedian. His roles include Brett in ''Pulp Fiction'', Robby Krieger in ''The Doors'', young Archie "Moonlight" Graham in ''Field of Dreams'', and Guy ...

as Herb Schellenberger, Jodi's father. *

Brock Yurich Brock may refer to: Businesses * Brock Motors, a short-lived automotive company founded in 1921 in Amherstberg, Ontario * Crowne Plaza Niagara Falls – Fallsview also known as the Brock Hotel, a hotel in Niagara Falls, Ontario * Brock Hotel Corp ...

as Kyle McDevitt, one of Whitney's popular friends. *

Daniel Eric Gold Daniel Eric Gold (born September 19, 1975 in Los Angeles, California) is an American actor. He attended Lee Strasberg's Theater Institute as a teenager, and went on to graduate from Penn State in 1996, with a degree in Theater Arts. Career ...

as Mr. Samuels, Mindy's teacher with whom she has a close friendship. *

Ted McGinley Ted Martin McGinley (born May 30, 1958) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Jefferson D'Arcy on the television sitcom '' Married... with Children'' and as Charley Shanowski on the ABC sitcom ''Hope & Faith''. He was a late regular ...

as Principal Whitmore, a torturous principal. *

Will Peltz William Peltz (born May 30, 1986) is an American actor, who is best known for his roles in '' Unfriended'' '' Men, Women & Children'' and '' Manifest''. Early life Peltz was born in New York City, the son of Nelson Peltz, a billionaire businessm ...

as Colin Hackett, one of Whitney's popular friends. *

Jeanette Dilone Jeanette, Jeannette or Jeanetta may refer to: * Jeanette (given name), a given name (including a list of people and fictional characters with the name) Places * Jeannette, Ontario, Canada * Jeannette Island, Russia * Jeannette, Pennsylvania, U.S ...

as Paloma Watson, one of Whitney's popular friends.

Production

On May 13, 2014, the cast of the film, originally titled ''The Outskirts'', was announced to include

, Victoria Justice,

, Peyton List,

and

. On August 8,

joined the film to play Herb, the father of Jodi and a postal worker who agrees to start dating once his daughter takes charge of her own life. Victoria Justice and

starred together in the

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...

movie ''

Spectacular! ''Spectacular!'' is a 2009 musical comedy-drama film that aired on Nickelodeon and YTV. It stars Canadian singer Nolan Gerard Funk, Australian singer Tammin Sursok, Victoria Justice and Simon Curtis with Matthew Bennett, Andrea Lewis, Shannon ...

'' and television show ''

Victorious ''Victorious'' (stylized as ''VICTORiOUS'') is an American sitcom created by Dan Schneider that originally aired on Nickelodeon, debuting on March 27, 2010, and concluding on February 2, 2013 after four seasons. The series revolves around asp ...

''.

Filming

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as a ...

began on July 2, 2014, in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. In August, filming occurred at

John L. Miller Great Neck North High School John L. Miller Great Neck North High School or simply "Great Neck North," is a public high school, including grades 9 through 12, in the village of Great Neck (village), New York, Great Neck, New York, operated by the Great Neck School District. ...

and other locations around

Great Neck Great Neck is a region on Long Island, New York, that covers a peninsula on the North Shore and includes nine villages, among them Great Neck, Great Neck Estates, Great Neck Plaza, Kings Point, and Russell Gardens, and a number of unincor ...

and Port Washington.

Marketing

On July 29, 2014, two images from the film were revealed by ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...

''. On May 14, 2015, the official poster was revealed through the cast members official social media accounts.

Release

In March 2017, Swen Group acquired distribution rights to the film. On April 14, 2017, ''The Outcasts'' was given a limited release and made available through

. On August 14, 2017, it was released on Netflix.

Critical response

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

the film has an approval rating of 56% based on 9 reviews. On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the film has a weighted average score of 47 out of 100 based on 4 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Outcasts, The (2017 film) 2017 films 2017 comedy films 2010s American films 2010s English-language films 2010s high school films 2010s teen comedy films American films about revenge American high school films American teen comedy films Films about school bullying Films directed by Peter Hutchings Films set in New York City Films shot in New York City