Entertainment

'The Perfect Date' Fans Will *Love* Netflix's 'The F**k-It List'

by Jessica Lachenal
Chris Willard

What would you do if your life plan suddenly went up in flames? In The F**k-It List, premiering on Netflix on July 1, Brett (Eli Brown) is forced to reckon with this very question as his Ivy League college prospects disappear after a senior prank goes devastatingly awry. Now, as 18 years of Brett's hard work go out the window, Brett's given a blessing and a curse by way of a newfound sense of freedom. Enter: the "f**k-it list." Brett's list of all the things he missed out on while prioritizing academics over life experiences.

Chris Willard

Shortly after Brett's college offers are rescinded, he gets drunk and shares his "f**k-it list" on social media via video. It's a pretty standard bucket list that includes bungee jumping, kissing his childhood crush, etc. But the video goes massively viral — with high schoolers everywhere identifying with Brett's message — and even reaches that very childhood crush, Kayla (Madison Iseman). And instead of being freaked out by Brett's declaration of love, Kayla decides to embrace his new motto. Together they journey across country to live out their wildest fantasies. Along the way, Brett learns that he's surrounded by a great many more people who are also making the choice to live life as they see fit and do the things they've always wanted to do but couldn't, for whatever reason.

Chris Willard

This isn't the first time Netflix has explored the high stakes of college acceptances in its teen rom-coms. In 2019's The Perfect Date, Noah Centineo plays a high school student named Brooks who dreams of going to Yale. And in order to raise enough money to pay the steep tuition fees, he creates an app offering his services as a fake date. But much like with Brett, things don't exactly go as planned, with Brooks he having to reimagine his future outside of the Ivy League.

In the era of the 2019 college admissions bribery scandal, The F**k-It List, The Perfect Date, and other movies of its kind offer a refreshing take on the joys students can find outside of the immense pressures of the country's most elite colleges.