NOTE: I'm only referring to the movie version. The book one can stay.
Having seen the movie myself (Kristen Stewart seriously doesn't get enough credit for her role there), I was always a bit skeptical as to why Andy counted in the film, for reasons I will explain down below. Also yes, I got permission from The Pro-Wrestler.
What's the work?[]
Speak is a 1999 novel with a 2004 film adaptation. It's about the teenage Melinda Sordino entering her freshman year of high school, and she has poor social skills due to a traumatic experience with a bully she had some months ago.
Who's Andy and what does he do?[]
Andy Evans is a high school jock who raped Melinda while she was drunk at a party. When Andy was finished and then decided to haul ass, Melinda called the cops in hopes of arresting Andy, but it got several other innocent teens getting arrested instead. In the present day, Andy mocks Melinda playing the quiet game after what he did to her, and is now dating Melinda's former best friend, Rachel Bruin. When Melinda tells Rachel about her rape, the latter initially doesn't believe her but later changes her mind and ends up telling the whole school about it, causing the ruination of Andy's reputation. Out of spite, Andy corners Melinda in the janitor's closet and threatens to hurt her if she doesn't tell everyone she lied about the rape, but thankfully she's able to fight him off, splashing turpentine in his eyes before holding a broken glass shard to his neck until the hockey team barges in to help keep him cornered. With nowhere to go and his life in shambles, it's safe to say Andy probably went to prison afterwards.
Why isn't he Pure Evil?[]
Not heinous enough. Unlike the novel which has bathroom stall graffiti left by dozens of other girls to stay away from Andy, nothing indicates he had more victims than Melinda. Don't get me wrong, he's still a POS rapist, just not a serial one.
"You know some PEs only have one or two victims, right Jake?"
Yes I do, but the difference between Andy and other villains like that is their crimes being depicted with as much prolonged brutality as possible, like if it's a fate worse than death or a murder that lasts several days. Take Josh from Megan is Missing for example; his kidnapping/rape/torture of Megan and Amy (who are not only teenagers but also best friends) lasts two months on camera, and he ends up killing them both in a pretty graphic manner, burying the latter alive in a barrel with the former's rotting corpse. Another great example is Shou Tucker, who turned his own wife and 5-year-old daughter into chimeras for a research grant, which like I said is depicted in-universe as a fate worse than death.
What I'm saying is, villains have to go beyond one rape, murder, etc. in order to pass the baseline, and that's just not the case with Movie!Andy. If that was the case, then Le Tenia from Irreversible would be Pure Evil since his assault was objectively much worse than Andy's, sodomizing his pregnant victim for nine minutes onscreen before beating her into a coma, and in the end said victim's two lovers try to kill Le Tenia for revenge but then get arrested after killing the wrong man.
Final verdict[]
I hate the guy with a burning passion, but he needs to go. One rape just isn't enough by itself.