It's yet ANOTHER riff on the Cyrano story. Which, okay, I had a bit of a sigh about that, but I thought I'd give it a go anyway. It's not that I hate that story...it's just that there are so many of them.
Ellie Chu is smart but cash strapped. Her dad had a PhD in engineering in China, but wound up taking a job as a station manager for a (very) small railway station when they immigrated. But when her mom died when she was 13 (she's 17 now), he pretty much fell apart. He spends the greater part of the film in his bathrobe while she's actually doing a lot of his job.
She makes extra cash by writing school essays for all the white kids. Wait, what am I saying? They're all white kids. She's, like, the only non-white person in the movie. Which, yeah, I've been there, except I was the only one who wasn't white or black in a place where everyone was one or the other and the twain never met (or talked, if they could help it). Anyway, a sweet but not overly clever second string football jock guy named Paul hires her to write a letter to the most popular girl in school that he's got a crush on: Aster.
And...well...let me just skip to my thoughts because I don't actually feel like hashing out the whole plot. Most of it is pretty typical and exactly what you'd expect, other than there's the lesbian twist to it when Ellie is also falling for Aster.
When I finished it, I had mixed feelings. Actually, I had mixed feelings when I was about 1/2 way through. This review on Vox actually covers some of my thoughts pretty well.
There's some really good parts but there are other bits that, honestly, either don't make sense or just don't work. I really wanted to like this more. Partly, it feels like a film from someone who never attended high school and has no sense of when things happen. This is most obvious towards the end when there's the end of year talent show (in which seniors are forced to participate) but there's weirdly also a huge football (American football, if that wasn't obvious) game where Paul scores a touchdown for the first time in some game against some school we don't know/care about and had no idea this was a thing since it had never been mentioned before. Like a homecoming game kind of feel? Except those are in Fall... And Ellie is definitely most definitely NOT applying to the college she wants to go to in another state for literally the entire movie (methinks she doth protest too much), even though her sassy English teacher (who knows that Ellie is the one writing the papers for the cheaters but doesn't care because otherwise she'd have to read more crap) but then, suddenly, she's going. In, like, a couple of days.
Wait. Let's just talk about what I liked instead.
I liked the two lead actors: Paul and Ellie, played by Daniel Diemer (who is 24, but felt passable for a HS senior) and Leah Lewis (23, same). Aster, played by Alexis Lemire (also 24, but who looks more like a 20s girl) had a few nice moments, but she wasn't given as much to do. Honestly, she spends most of the movie as "The Love Interest." I liked the burgeoning friendship between Paul and Ellie. I liked the weird but sad thing going on with Ellie and her dad and their dinners in front of the TV, though I probably liked Paul's relationship with her dad more. I did like the sassy English teacher.
I didn't like the end. It doesn't resolve anything, really and completely drops some of the plot threads (of which there were too many). Maybe it's because they (I say they, I have no idea who "they" are in this instance -- the writer? the director?) seemed to flip a coming of age/friendship movie into more typical teen romance territory but there were no happy endings there? Is Ellie gay or questioning? Are we supposed to surmise something from her terrible fashion sense (though, to be fair, kudus for it being a teen movie that did NOT feature a makeover for once)? Is Aster possibly gay? She doesn't seem to show any leanings this way at all other than the one scene where she randomly invites Ellie out to a natural spring (Sappho, anyone?) -- which could have worked, but as up until that point they've barely said two words to each other (that Aster knows about), it felt really...weird? In fact, most of Aster's angst in the movie is over whether she should marry this dude named Trig. Who she's been dating for ages. Probably. Except she's gone on dates with Paul. Which no one in this VERY small town has gossiped about. Even though she's the pastor's daughter. And Trig...WTH. He's like a caricature of a person. Like someone took Steve Harrington and robbed him of everything other than good looks and then made him really dumb.
(I have to make a small digression there that the actor that plays Trig is named Wolfgang Novogratz. Dude. You go, Wolfgang. Wolfgang. I just...heh. Wolfgang. He's also in another sort of romantic comedy called Feel the Beat on my Netflix list and now I'm going to have to watch it because HIS NAME IS WOLFGANG NOVOGRATZ.)
I'd make a comment about the stupidness of high school seniors proposing and planning marriage except, eh, that happens in small towns. I knew people on their second marriage in their senior year. So, yeah, I won't complain about that.
And Paul -- he goes immediately from O, la! I love Aster because she's pretty! And nice! And pretty! to Whoa, hey, I think I actually love Ellie because we're such excellent friends and she supports my sausage-making innovations! Even though I kissed Aster just last night and grinned like a fool! Now I want to kiss Ellie!
WTH, Paul. You're too much of a nice guy for any of that. WTH, movie.
Anyway, it did have some lovely moments. Small moments, a few perfect little scenes. But it mostly felt like a hot mess. I still liked it because, like I said, Chinese girl/small town. But I definitely didn't love it. I wish it'd been MORE. I say that as a writer. I say that as a Chinese (former) American.
No comments:
Post a Comment