The Edge of Seventeen * * * *

The Edge Of Seventeen is a very neatly put together “teen” movie.  It reminded me of some of the classic “teen” movies that John Hughes used to make in the 80’s, like Sixteen Candles and Ferris Bueller's Day Off.   Recently, the closest I have seen to this in style and genre is “The Duff”, but this is a much better film.   

Nadine opening her smart mouth

     Like “The Duff” and many other teen movies, this is somewhat unreal.  These teenagers  have an unlikely air of confidence and sophistication. Even Nadine, the main character, who’s problem is supposed to be that she lacks social skills and confidence.   

     Regrettably it has more than its fair share of “teenagers” that look more like 25 than 17.  And no one is poor. They live in nice spacious homes, wear nice clothes and consume disgusting amounts of food from extraordinarily bounteous fridges.  Nevertheless, this is a film that is not lacking in thought.

     Playing the “absent father” card and the “dominating elder sibling” card it explains Nadine and her problem to us quite clearly from the beginning.  She’s a quirky girl with a serious chip on her shoulder, a very smart mouth and one friend - whom she loses. She gives her long suffering teacher a hard time by seeking counsel from him during his lunch breaks (well played by Woody Harrelson).  She and her mother have a very strained relationship and the same with her brother.

     The dialogue is sharp and every scene is spent building the story.  The Director doesn’t buy into “gross out” diversions or any secondary event which might distract from Nadine.

    It’s a very well made film in it’s genre.  And I guess the good thing is, it’s an intelligent empathetic teen age film that teenagers will watch. There were plenty in the showing I went to, which is more than can be said of a few other "coming of age" teen movies we were given last year: films which seemed to be made more for the appreciation of a bunch of oldies in an art house than the demographic the film represented.

   (As a footnote on  audience appeal,  despite positive reviews this film didn’t do very well at all in its home country (USA) so it is interesting it has been launched here so widely.   It was originally to be called “Besties’. Don’t know why they changed the name, especially when there is an excellent  film from the 90s of a young gay man coming out which is also called Edge Of Seventeen.)