The To Do List (2013)

What makes The To Do List surprisingly special is how it flips the usual teen sex-comedy gaze: it’s not about conquest or locker-room bragging, but about a smart, tightly wound young woman trying to “study” her way through desire—and discovering that feelings don’t follow a syllabus. Aubrey Plaza is terrific, playing Brandy with a deadpan sincerity that makes the outrageous moments funnier and the awkward ones oddly tender, while Maggie Carey keeps the vibe bright, summery, and unabashedly raunchy without losing its human pulse. It’s the kind of comedy that earns its laughs through specificity—cringey misreads, earnest overconfidence, and the chaos of growing up—so even when it goes broad, it feels rooted in something real. Fair warning: it’s very explicit and proudly crude, but if you can roll with an R-rated, female-centered coming-of-age romp that’s both silly and strangely sweet, it’s an easy, memorable watch.

The To Do List is clearly trying to be a frank, female-led coming-of-age sex comedy with a bit of heart, using Brandy’s hyper-competitive personality as the engine for awkward experimentation and eventual self-awareness. The problem is it often plays more like a string of raunchy sketches than a story with momentum, and the humor can feel mean-spirited or try-hard rather than sharp, especially when it leans hard into gross-out territory. Aubrey Plaza commits and there are occasional moments of honesty about insecurity and pressure, but the characters around her can feel thin, which makes the “romance” side hit softer than it should. If you’re not into explicit teen-sex setups, crude dialogue, or comedies that mistake discomfort for laughs, this will likely feel like a long summer you didn’t sign up for.