The Direct-to-Video Trap
There was a time when the American Pie brand meant something at the box office. By 2020, it had become a label slapped onto direct-to-video (or direct-to-Netflix) projects that have almost no connection to the original cast or spirit. Girls' Rules is the ninth installment in the franchise, and it shows.
The film attempts a 'faux-feminist' pivot, as noted by critics at The Hollywood Reporter, where the girls make a pact to get what they want. But the 'wants' are still defined by the same narrow, sexualized goals of the original male-centric films. It’s a movie made by a committee that seems to have googled 'what do Gen Z girls like?' and landed on a version of 'girl power' that feels twenty years out of date.
Why it Fails the WISE Test
From a safety perspective, it’s not 'dangerous'—there’s no extreme violence or trauma—but it’s a content minefield. The dialogue is relentlessly focused on sex, and the situations are designed for cheap titillation rather than any meaningful exploration of teen life.
More importantly, it fails the 'Enriching' and 'Imaginative' bars because it is fundamentally boring. A 3.9 on IMDb and a 14% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes tell you everything you need to know: even the people who wanted to like this movie found it lacking. In 2026, with the wealth of high-quality streaming content available, there is zero reason to settle for something this mediocre.
