The screenplay by Josh Cagan was based on the novel of the same name by Kody Keplinger. It was released on February 20, , and was the first film for which Lionsgate took over CBS Films' distribution functions. It received positive reviews from critics, with praise for Whitman's performance. Comparisons were frequently drawn to the cult teen films Mean Girls and Easy A Bianca is enjoying her senior year of high school in the suburbs of Atlanta with her two best friends, Jess and Casey, who are both significantly more popular than her.
Her neighbor is Wesley, the captain of the football team, who was her childhood friend. Bianca reluctantly attends a party hosted by mean girl Madison, Wesley's "on-again, off-again" girlfriend, with hopes of talking to her guitar-playing crush Toby. He explains that the DUFF does not necessarily have to be ugly or fat, it is merely the person in a social group who is less popular, and therefore more accessible, than the others in the group.
Bianca is insulted and devastated, but she soon realizes Wesley is right: the students in her high school are only interested in her as a way to get to Jess and Casey. She takes her anger out on Jess and Casey and "unfriends" them on social media and in person. She later overhears Wesley's science teacher Mr. Fillmore telling Wesley that unless he passes the midterm, he is off the football team, which could cost him his football scholarship.
Desperate to up her social standing and go on a date with her crush, Bianca strikes a deal with Wesley: she will help him pass his class if he helps her socially. The two have a fun time at the mall, attempting a makeover by buying new clothes. Secretly, Madison's henchgirl records Bianca embarrassingly playing around in her new clothes and pretending that a mannequin is Toby. Madison posts the video online to embarrass Bianca because she has become possessive of Wesley and jealous of Bianca's relationship with him.
Wesley suggests Bianca just "own" the video and be upfront with Toby, talking directly to him and asking him out. She takes the advice and, to her surprise, he accepts. Bianca takes Wesley to her favorite spot in the forest, her "think rock", to get him away from the constant arguing between his parents, and to help him cope with a possible divorce.
