Babyteeth * * *

Babyteeth is adapted from the stage play of the same name.  It is a very thorough adaptation as it really looks like it was written as an original screen play (perhaps too original). 
    A teenage girl from a comfortable home in an expensive suburb, befriends a junkie and wants to bring him home to be her boyfriend. He's in his twenties, she is only sixteen.  Very little is  shown as to why she likes him, the story just keep insisting that she does.  Her parents - especially her mother - are horrified. Though her parents are one hundred percent weird themselves.  He's a psychiatrist who seems hopelessly out of touch with himself. She's a Mum with so many problems she has become completely dependent on the drugs her husband dispenses. Their sex life seems to be by appointment at his surgery.

You want me to say what?! ......Okay.

   Because the young girl is dying of cancer she is allowed to keep the drug addicted, thieving exploitative boyfriend. It's weird and inconsistent.  But I'll say this, it's well acted - especially Toby Wallace as Moses, the addict/dealer. His performance is extraordinary. 
    I do not know if the actors believed in the script, or if the director was so good she found a way to persuade them to have faith. But surely there must have been times when they were thinking, "Why is my character behaving this way? Why am I saying these things?!"  As an observer I was definitely thinking that. 
    I'm really not sure what to make of this.  Overall I was left dissatisfied, but there were times when I really liked it. I mean, I was sitting in my seat thinking, "Boy, I'm really glad I took the time to see this".  Then other times thinking, "You know, I've really just about had enough of these people.  And if they introduce another scene by giving it a name, I'm gonna throw my drink at the screen". Actually, if I did that my behavior might be rather like the the people in the film:  inconsistent, irrational, illogical and inexplicable.
    I laughed quite a few times, I was concerned occasionally, but ultimately I wasn't moved. This ain't no Me and Earl and The Dying Girl, though I sometimes think it wants to be, it just misses the subtlety and nuances, never mind the believability of the characters.  Yet, there is something going on that persuades you to hang in there.