Yeah, neither do I.
Leigh (Kristen Bell) is going through an identity crisis. She feels she needs to return home to her parents for a little while. While back in her hometown, she gets in a sexual/romantic relationship with a high school student, receives a disproportionate amount of blame for relatively little wrongdoing, is criticized heavily by everyone around her for not living her own life according to their standards, and grows to learn something from the situation, as if she needed to be "fixed" somehow. Ugh.
This is the kind of film that thinks it's teaching you something and has something to say about humanity, but it's actually full of s**t. The film is very critical of its protagonist for her actions, treating her as if she is a flawed character that just needs to grow up. However, I fail to see exactly what it is about her that merits such contempt. Granted, she does a few things that aren't exactly admirable (the way she just drops in on her parents, for example, was pretty inconsiderate, and she flakes out on her job), but aside from those actions, she's hardly a bad person. And yet, the film seems to think that she needs to "grow up", as if she's immature. She's not. Yes, she does drugs, she is temporarily living with her parents, and she is working a low-paying job, but SO WHAT? That's her business, and who does the writer/director think she is to judge her? The film seems to think that her relationship with a high schooler is contemptible, but it's really not. It's a mutually consensual decision made by two people who are fully aware of what they're doing and aren't harming anyone else. Granted, her friend, the principal of the school, is put in an awkward position, but that's not really Leigh's fault so much as it is the fault of society for being so squeamish about such an innocuous relationship. The film even tries to criticize Leigh for the actions of the people around her, as if she influenced them to act in the ways they did. It goes so far as to try to blame another person's suicide on her actions, which is bulls**t.
Sorry, that was really long-winded, but I feel it was very important to get all that across: the crucial problem with the film is that it thinks it's teaching you a valuable moral, but it's actually full of hot air. Seriously, the more I think about this movie, the more it p***es me off.
Now that I've finished complaining, I'll address the good qualities the film has, because they do exist. The acting is good from everyone, especially Kristen Bell. The film is mildly interesting when you watch her live her life, until you get to the beginning of the third act and realize where the film is going. I was actually very invested until the film was revealed to be such a load of holier-than-thou bulls**t. I can't give it the lowest score, because it had a couple of good qualities, but the film is really rotten at the core. The film was very promising for the first two-thirds, but the conclusion managed to destroy almost all goodwill the film had built up in my eyes.
Leigh (Kristen Bell) is going through an identity crisis. She feels she needs to return home to her parents for a little while. While back in her hometown, she gets in a sexual/romantic relationship with a high school student, receives a disproportionate amount of blame for relatively little wrongdoing, is criticized heavily by everyone around her for not living her own life according to their standards, and grows to learn something from the situation, as if she needed to be "fixed" somehow. Ugh.
This is the kind of film that thinks it's teaching you something and has something to say about humanity, but it's actually full of s**t. The film is very critical of its protagonist for her actions, treating her as if she is a flawed character that just needs to grow up. However, I fail to see exactly what it is about her that merits such contempt. Granted, she does a few things that aren't exactly admirable (the way she just drops in on her parents, for example, was pretty inconsiderate, and she flakes out on her job), but aside from those actions, she's hardly a bad person. And yet, the film seems to think that she needs to "grow up", as if she's immature. She's not. Yes, she does drugs, she is temporarily living with her parents, and she is working a low-paying job, but SO WHAT? That's her business, and who does the writer/director think she is to judge her? The film seems to think that her relationship with a high schooler is contemptible, but it's really not. It's a mutually consensual decision made by two people who are fully aware of what they're doing and aren't harming anyone else. Granted, her friend, the principal of the school, is put in an awkward position, but that's not really Leigh's fault so much as it is the fault of society for being so squeamish about such an innocuous relationship. The film even tries to criticize Leigh for the actions of the people around her, as if she influenced them to act in the ways they did. It goes so far as to try to blame another person's suicide on her actions, which is bulls**t.
Sorry, that was really long-winded, but I feel it was very important to get all that across: the crucial problem with the film is that it thinks it's teaching you a valuable moral, but it's actually full of hot air. Seriously, the more I think about this movie, the more it p***es me off.
Now that I've finished complaining, I'll address the good qualities the film has, because they do exist. The acting is good from everyone, especially Kristen Bell. The film is mildly interesting when you watch her live her life, until you get to the beginning of the third act and realize where the film is going. I was actually very invested until the film was revealed to be such a load of holier-than-thou bulls**t. I can't give it the lowest score, because it had a couple of good qualities, but the film is really rotten at the core. The film was very promising for the first two-thirds, but the conclusion managed to destroy almost all goodwill the film had built up in my eyes.
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