--- description: Mae Whitman and Ken Jeong star in the trailer for teen comedy "The Duff." title: The Duff Trailer with Mae Whitman and Ken Jeong image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [movies](/tag/movies/) ## movies Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Watch Mae Whitman and Ken Jeong in the Trailer for Teen Comedy _The DUFF_  by [Eliza Berman](/author/eliza-berman/)  ## Eliza Berman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Berman is a senior editor at TIME. Nov 19, 2014 3:39 PM CUT  by [Eliza Berman](/author/eliza-berman/)  ## Eliza Berman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Berman is a senior editor at TIME. Nov 19, 2014 3:39 PM CUT It’s hard to sit comfortably with the idea that Mae Whitman, known for her roles in _Arrested Development_ and _Parenthood_, could play ugly or fat. But that’s exactly what she is as Bianca in _The DUFF_, a teen comedy slated for 2015 based on Kody Keplinger’s novel by the same name. A “DUFF,” or Designated Ugly Fat Friend, is the least attractive person in her friend group. And Bianca doesn’t want to be a DUFF. She wants to be dateable. So she asks the guy with the chiseled abs—the one who alerted her to her DUFF status in the first place — to help reverse-DUFF her in exchange for tutoring. At first, Wesley (Robbie Amell) offers up real-talk: “You’ve got a uniboob, your posture sucks — you need to start dressing less like Wreck-It Ralph.” Later, he softens, advising his pupil, “You need to realize you’re only as awesome as you think you are.” There’s already a sub-genre of music in which men tell women that they’re beautiful despite their self-perceived flaws (see: [John Legend](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pi3bc9lS3rg "undefined"), [One Direction](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJO3ROT-A4E "undefined")). But Whitman is both a talented actress and a [supporter](http://jezebel.com/5954233/tavi-lena-dunham-and-leslie-gore-come-together-for-pro-woman-you-dont-own-me-psa "undefined") of feminist causes. And a supporting cast that includes Ken Jeong and Allison Janney is nothing to sneeze at. Let’s hope this movie sings a different tune. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3594633/mae-whitman-the-duff-trailer/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3594633/mae-whitman-the-duff-trailer/"},"headline":"Watch Mae Whitman and Ken Jeong in the Trailer for Teen Comedy The DUFF","datePublished":"2014-11-19T15:39:41.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T11:32:28.046Z","description":"A new take on the She’s All That nerd-to-hot story","url":"https://time.com/3594633/mae-whitman-the-duff-trailer/","keywords":["movies","Comedy","Movie trailers","Trailers"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliza Berman","jobTitle":"Berman is a senior editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/eliza-berman/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3594633/mae-whitman-the-duff-trailer/","name":"Watch Mae Whitman and Ken Jeong in the Trailer for Teen Comedy The DUFF"}}]}] ```