This is one of those movies you’d enjoy if you have siblings that are close in age and aren’t too far removed from your teenage years. Of course you might enjoy it anyway if growing up was a real pain in the ass at one point and you didn’t know how you were going to make it through. The movie is pretty simple and doesn’t get too heavy-handed really, but Hailee Steinfeld is great since she plays the role of Nadine, a young woman that is insanely insecure and so jealous of her popular brother that she can’t stand it. Her best friend, Krista, eventually ends up falling in love with her brother Darian and to this Nadine reacts in one of the most common ways, she begins to self-destruct and does her best to use Mr. Bruner, played by Woody Harrelson, as her sounding board. The best part of Harrelson being in this movie is that he takes on the slightly apathetic nature of a teacher that’s been through the constant day to day life of dealing with high school kids and isn’t all that sympathetic to Nadine, despite the fact that she’s one of his favorite students. In other words he’s not inordinately tough on her for having an attitude that’s defeatist and even borderline antisocial, but he’s also not the kind of teacher that will gladly listen and then try to sympathize with anyone, which is, in my humble opinion, one of the best types of teachers.
The root of Nadine’s problems is obviously that she can’t accept herself for who she is and then allows this to taint any and every relationship she has with anyone else. Her jealousy of her brother keeps her from connecting with him on a deeper level throughout much of the movie. Her continual fights with her mother make it almost impossible to really take anything she says seriously, and while her mother, played by Kyra Sedgwick, is a piece of work all on her own since she dotes on Darian and continually tries to micro-manage Nadine, she is still attempting to try and reach her daughter. The death of Nadine and Darian’s father was definitely a catalyst for this emotional trauma that continues between the three of them since not only did it weigh heavily on Nadine, but it managed to mess up Darian and their mother as well since their mother worries obsessively about Nadine and in turn this creates conflict between the two of them as Nadine doesn’t want to be given so many rules when Darian seems to get a free pass. What she doesn’t know however is that beyond her scope Darian has been doing his best to keep the family together and on track, which means not applying to out of state colleges and sticking as close to home as possible so that their mother can be satisfied that he’s nearby. This is a pretty common thing with those that have lost someone they love and still have children to care for, they want to know that the family they have are still safe and sound and are where they can be reached at all times.
Nadine’s relationship with Krista ends on her say-so when she catches her and Darian in bed together after a night of drinking and partying. Thinking that her brother is getting what he wants again Nadine tries to make Krista choose between them, but ends the friendship when Krista refuses. Things just continue to spiral downward as Erwin, the boy at school that happens to have a crush on Nadine, does his best to be noticed but becomes an option only when the boy that Nadine obsessed over is only interested in sex. Things also become more complicated when Darian is sent to retrieve Nadine from her teacher’s house after her ill-fated date. Eventually Darian comes to pick her up and she’s still firmly set against him, as anyone that’s already been this age will attest that once your temper is up and flaring it’s tough to come down without saying a few things that will offend pretty much anyone. Funny isn’t it how we tend to be verbally dangerous when we’re at our lowest?
By the end of the movie however Nadine has reconciled with her brother after hearing everything he has to do in order to keep the family in one piece, has reconciled with her friend, and has finally accepted that Erwin really cares about her after attending a filming of his animated movie that features a parody of his life and how he’s tried to get her to notice him for so long. The movie ends on a high note and while it’s not perfect it kind of is at the same time since it gives hope to a lot of people that no matter how hard life gets or what you’re going through there’s a way to calm down, back up, and realize that it’s not just you going through it.
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