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The Edge of Seventeen (2016)
Yeah, it's another teen angst film and a comedy/drama but the writing, direction, and especially the acting make it really special and well worth watching. Hailee Steinfeld stars as the young girl the title refers to, and her character's name is Nadine. It seems Nadine has been struggling all her life to be accepted, yet being stubborn enough that it makes it hard for people to want to be her friend. When she first starts school though, while throwing a temper tantrum outside the school grounds, she meets a young girl, Krista, who likes her for who she is and they become the closest of pals: in fact, they are the only friends of each other. The older version of Krista is played by Haley Lu Richardson, who does anything to build Nadine up, that is until as a high school student, she begins to crush on Nadine's popular brother, Darian. Which of course blows up Nadine's world. To say she's angry about this and feels betrayed is putting it mildly.
Nadine struggles all her life with jealousy of her older brother, Darian (Blake Jenner), whom she thinks has it so easy in everything. Her mother (played by a great Kyra Sedgwick) makes no bones about saying Darian is her favorite, which really makes Nadine angry. Nadine's drama-queen antics are so funny and well-played out by Steinfeld and she dumps all her heavy woes upon her favorite teacher (or favorite dumpee), Mr. Bruner (Woody Harrelson, who is super here). The scenes where she comes in and says things like she's going to kill herself (in a comical way) only to have Mr. Bruner dryly comment about how he likes to spend his lunch hour in solitude are comic gold. Yet, before the movie is over, she comes to realize how much she relies on Bruner. In fact, she learns how she's not the only one in the world with problems. But for a long while, she experiences practically every problem a young girl in high school can, especially unrequited love.
This is easily Steinfeld's best movie since True Grit and she really shows her acting skills here. She runs the gamut of emotions in this movie and shows how versatile she can be. Not to say she hasn't been good in various movies since her first one, but this one comes the closest to topping that one. Your appreciation of Steinfeld as an actress will definitely color your opinion of whether or not you like her in this film. But I've always liked her and was really touched by how good she is. It's her movie all the way, despite everyone else being fine also, but Harrelson comes the closest to being her equal. He is so funny in his line-delivery and he is Death Valley-dry with his acting. But you also get to see what anchors him before the movie is over. Mention must be made of Hayden Szeto who plays Erwin, Nadine's classmate who loves her from afar yet she just considers him a friend. But Nadine finds out he has lots of mystery about him that is revealed as the movie proceeds.
Lastly, don't be put off by the "teen angst" shingle hung upon this film---it's really done with a great sense of humor throughout and I found myself laughing and looking forward to whatever happened next in Nadine's little cosmos. Steinfeld should have at least been nominated for a Golden Globe for this. She just keeps growing with her acting talent and I hope her singing career (she really good) doesn't sideline her too much. I look forward to her next film.
Yeah, it's another teen angst film and a comedy/drama but the writing, direction, and especially the acting make it really special and well worth watching. Hailee Steinfeld stars as the young girl the title refers to, and her character's name is Nadine. It seems Nadine has been struggling all her life to be accepted, yet being stubborn enough that it makes it hard for people to want to be her friend. When she first starts school though, while throwing a temper tantrum outside the school grounds, she meets a young girl, Krista, who likes her for who she is and they become the closest of pals: in fact, they are the only friends of each other. The older version of Krista is played by Haley Lu Richardson, who does anything to build Nadine up, that is until as a high school student, she begins to crush on Nadine's popular brother, Darian. Which of course blows up Nadine's world. To say she's angry about this and feels betrayed is putting it mildly.
Nadine struggles all her life with jealousy of her older brother, Darian (Blake Jenner), whom she thinks has it so easy in everything. Her mother (played by a great Kyra Sedgwick) makes no bones about saying Darian is her favorite, which really makes Nadine angry. Nadine's drama-queen antics are so funny and well-played out by Steinfeld and she dumps all her heavy woes upon her favorite teacher (or favorite dumpee), Mr. Bruner (Woody Harrelson, who is super here). The scenes where she comes in and says things like she's going to kill herself (in a comical way) only to have Mr. Bruner dryly comment about how he likes to spend his lunch hour in solitude are comic gold. Yet, before the movie is over, she comes to realize how much she relies on Bruner. In fact, she learns how she's not the only one in the world with problems. But for a long while, she experiences practically every problem a young girl in high school can, especially unrequited love.
This is easily Steinfeld's best movie since True Grit and she really shows her acting skills here. She runs the gamut of emotions in this movie and shows how versatile she can be. Not to say she hasn't been good in various movies since her first one, but this one comes the closest to topping that one. Your appreciation of Steinfeld as an actress will definitely color your opinion of whether or not you like her in this film. But I've always liked her and was really touched by how good she is. It's her movie all the way, despite everyone else being fine also, but Harrelson comes the closest to being her equal. He is so funny in his line-delivery and he is Death Valley-dry with his acting. But you also get to see what anchors him before the movie is over. Mention must be made of Hayden Szeto who plays Erwin, Nadine's classmate who loves her from afar yet she just considers him a friend. But Nadine finds out he has lots of mystery about him that is revealed as the movie proceeds.
Lastly, don't be put off by the "teen angst" shingle hung upon this film---it's really done with a great sense of humor throughout and I found myself laughing and looking forward to whatever happened next in Nadine's little cosmos. Steinfeld should have at least been nominated for a Golden Globe for this. She just keeps growing with her acting talent and I hope her singing career (she really good) doesn't sideline her too much. I look forward to her next film.