MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD.
I just got around to watching this movie. I was really looking forward to it - I had never heard of the book, but I really liked Emma Watson in the Harry Potter series and I generally like watching coming-of-age movies. And after the first 30 minutes, my pleasant anticipation seemed entirely justified. I really loved the first half an hour, it had so many great scenes in it: The innocent Charlie eating a hash brownie and being high for the first time, blabbering entertaining absurdities and demanding a milkshake, Emma Watson experiencing freedom while listening to David Bowie and of course my favorite, the awesome high school dance where Sam and Patrick do the 'living room dance'. So, after about 1/3 of its runtime, the movie looked really promising to me.
Sadly, it went all downhill from there for me. One reviewer here stated that he liked about this movie how it replaced 'tired clichés' and while I of course respect anyone's opinion, I actually felt a lot of clichés were merely repeated here. The shy, introverted guy with the good heart, who likes poems and reading, falls in love with the good-looking, upbeat girl whose only negative character trait seems to be constantly falling for douches. Her stepbrother, Patrick, is gay and dating one of the popular football playing kids, Brad, who is secretly gay, but obviously doesn't want to tell anybody and instead hides his relationship with Patrick. Eventually, Brad's father catches the two making out and punishes his son violently.
Meanwhile, Charlie and Sam clearly have romantic feelings for each other, but Sam has a boyfriend and because of this, Charlie doesn't dare to ask her out. He gets in a distinctively unhappy relationship with one of their friends instead, Mary Elizabeth, but eventually has to confess he doesn't love her and only wants Sam. In the end, it is revealed that Sam's boyfriend has cheated on her the whole time, because, well, he's a douche, and before Sam leaves for university, she and Charlie finally get their big romantic moment they've been craving all along, confessing their love for each other and making out enthusiastically.
Doesn't that sound awfully familiar? To me, it does. It's the typical romance 'chick-flick' structure, just mixed with a coming-of-age tale here. I awarded six stars to this movie because, even though it's clichéd, there's no denying it's well done - the acting is decent, the dialog is mostly good and the soundtrack is awesome. The little twist at the end regarding Charlie's aunt comes unexpected and makes kind of sense, but wasn't absolutely necessary to the story in my opinion. All in all, a decent movie with a lot of heart that really cares for its characters, but definitely no revelation and a little overrated here on IMDb, me thinks.
I just got around to watching this movie. I was really looking forward to it - I had never heard of the book, but I really liked Emma Watson in the Harry Potter series and I generally like watching coming-of-age movies. And after the first 30 minutes, my pleasant anticipation seemed entirely justified. I really loved the first half an hour, it had so many great scenes in it: The innocent Charlie eating a hash brownie and being high for the first time, blabbering entertaining absurdities and demanding a milkshake, Emma Watson experiencing freedom while listening to David Bowie and of course my favorite, the awesome high school dance where Sam and Patrick do the 'living room dance'. So, after about 1/3 of its runtime, the movie looked really promising to me.
Sadly, it went all downhill from there for me. One reviewer here stated that he liked about this movie how it replaced 'tired clichés' and while I of course respect anyone's opinion, I actually felt a lot of clichés were merely repeated here. The shy, introverted guy with the good heart, who likes poems and reading, falls in love with the good-looking, upbeat girl whose only negative character trait seems to be constantly falling for douches. Her stepbrother, Patrick, is gay and dating one of the popular football playing kids, Brad, who is secretly gay, but obviously doesn't want to tell anybody and instead hides his relationship with Patrick. Eventually, Brad's father catches the two making out and punishes his son violently.
Meanwhile, Charlie and Sam clearly have romantic feelings for each other, but Sam has a boyfriend and because of this, Charlie doesn't dare to ask her out. He gets in a distinctively unhappy relationship with one of their friends instead, Mary Elizabeth, but eventually has to confess he doesn't love her and only wants Sam. In the end, it is revealed that Sam's boyfriend has cheated on her the whole time, because, well, he's a douche, and before Sam leaves for university, she and Charlie finally get their big romantic moment they've been craving all along, confessing their love for each other and making out enthusiastically.
Doesn't that sound awfully familiar? To me, it does. It's the typical romance 'chick-flick' structure, just mixed with a coming-of-age tale here. I awarded six stars to this movie because, even though it's clichéd, there's no denying it's well done - the acting is decent, the dialog is mostly good and the soundtrack is awesome. The little twist at the end regarding Charlie's aunt comes unexpected and makes kind of sense, but wasn't absolutely necessary to the story in my opinion. All in all, a decent movie with a lot of heart that really cares for its characters, but definitely no revelation and a little overrated here on IMDb, me thinks.