The Tutor Trap

starring: SAVANNAH COFFEE & LUKE DODGE

School hockey star Brady asks brainy wallflower Harper to be his chemistry tutor. In exchange, he promises to be her fake boyfriend, teach her how to flirt and help her land her crush.

REVIEW

⭐⭐⭐⭐

This is rather adorable on Reelshort

Good things - Luke Dodge finally gets lead role after awesome turns in Straight A Pregnancy and My Boss Is My Secret...Donor

He's charming, effortlessly cool, has screen presence, can show the hidden depths, that jocks have feelings too and basically all the teens should be swooning because he is super. And yep there is a touch of Keanu Reeves and now I really want a Bill & Ted style buddy duo comedy in verts

Savannah Coffee has a tough task as she spent most of the vert having to look up as the height difference is huge and I worried about her hurting her neck. Her best bits are when Harper's control breaks and it all comes about how hard she is working to avoid being at home.

Now the bit that annoyed me was the endless voiceovers, especially in the middle. I do like getting a bit of insight into what characters are thinking. But we have 2 good actors here and we didn't need everything spelled out for us. You can see what the characters are thinking from body language and their facial reactions. Trust the actors and audience we can cope.

Similarly this has about 4 endings

- Brittany gets chucked off the cheerleading squad but is there next game
- coach forgets he told Harper to split up with Brady
- the blinking contract gets a big reveal twice. Everyone already knows

And these details are annoying as it distracts from the fact this is a pretty good YA vert with a green flag male lead, and marked reduction in violence

Plus shout out to Lottie Guidi for making pink sunglasses terrifying, excellent locker room snooping, crawling around to get that contract and be willing to get stuck in during the food fight.

And hurrah for the teachers for finally turning up in this story to stop the food fight and expel Brittany.

It has its flaws, but is a great watch and another good addition to the rapidly growing YA cannon in verts

More please

💖 Top swoonworthy moment:

Brady saves the day multiple times, but the best bits are when Harper and Brady open up to each other. It is frustrating that Harper doesn’t trust Brady more, but makes sense given her experiences. And “open the pizza” works very well.

🦹🏼‍♂️ Top villain award:

Lottie Guidi has a reign of terror as Brittany, and does for pink sunglasses what Tiffany Ryland did for bows in QBND. But the real nasty piece of work is Jack, and his mates - not a good advert for teenage boys. Thankfully Brady deals with them thoroughly, which doesn’t always happen in verts.

😂 Comedy gold:

The continuity errors. Brittany squirts Harper with ketchup, next time we see her shirt it is stained with mustard. The fact Brittany is kicked off the cheer squad then there at the next game. Coach telling them to break up, then forgetting this and telling them to get back together. It’s a shame.

🎺 Unsung hero:

Luke Dodge’s hair. Carlos Sainz watch out. Luke Dodge could steal that L’Oreal Paris contract from you

✍🏼 DETAILS

Writer Teddi Shaffer | 2025

Available on Reelshort