The To Do List is a 2013 American romantic comedy film written and directed by Maggie Carey in her feature film directorial debut, starring an ensemble cast of Aubrey Plaza, Johnny Simmons, Bill Hader, Alia Shawkat, Sarah Steele, Scott Porter, Rachel Bilson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Andy Samberg, Donald Glover, Connie Britton, and Clark Gregg.
The film centers on a recent high school graduate (Plaza) who feels she needs to have more sexual experiences before she starts college.
[4] Brandy Klark (Aubrey Plaza), from Boise, Idaho, is an overachieving but socially awkward teenager who graduates as the valedictorian of her high school in 1993.
She assumes her co-workers are playing a prank on her, based on the Baby Ruth joke from the film Caddyshack, so she takes a bite only to find out it is actual feces.
Brandy gets advice from her sister, Amber (Rachel Bilson), her mother, and her two best friends, while her father, a conservative judge, is uncomfortable with the talk of sex.
Willy catches Brandy, Wendy, Fiona, and adult members of a male grunge band in the pool after hours.
She sees her father and mother in the Dodge Caravan next to them having sex, causing her to freak out and demand that Rusty take her home immediately.
The site's critical consensus reads: "The To Do List may play things disappointingly safe given its rather daring premise, but writer-director Maggie Carey's sure hand – and Aubrey Plaza's performance – keep the laughs coming.
[9] Plaza's role as Brandy Klark was praised by film critic Alan Scherstuhl, of The Village Voice, who wrote "unlike for the female characters in previous sex comedies, sex for her is a straight-up choice, something she offers or refuses according to no agenda but her own", but notes that "there's something dispiriting about [the film's] junky look, indifferent pacing, and sketch-comedy characterization.
"[10] On a more critical front, Rafer Guzman of Newsday gave the film one out of four stars, calling it "a fake feminist comedy that pays lip service to female empowerment but inadvertently makes sex seem both demeaning and meaningless," as well as "vulgar, cynical and rarely funny".