You have this 16 year-old named Nick who is geeky and awkward and wants the cute girl.
For some odd reason really this girl is actually interested in him. You see it in her eyes, in here willingness to be with him and how she even invades his diary. She even directly tells him to kiss her.
And the crazy thing is that he did all of this WITHOUT Francois, his French alter ego.
Now all of the sudden he needs to grow a pair to actually get the girl. He seemed to be doing pretty good for himself. All he needed to do was to keep dating her and make the arrangements necessary to see her. He didn´t have to be a badass. Just more confident, if anything.
But no, he had to trash the town (Which was the reason her parents decided to sent her to a boarding school), sneak in to see his girl at the school and pass her sleeping pills to get her expelled. Which brings me to another point.
How stupid is Sheeni? Nick literarily destroyed her dreams of having a good education and going to France. And that apparently makes him such a great guy to be with since he did it so they wouldn´t be alone? WRONG! He did it so HE wouldn´t be alone. Aside from Trent, she always would have had options whether after graduating, France or even in the town. She nice and attractive. She would not end up alone.
There was not reason for her to want him. Sure, they had chemistry, but...c´mon...Nick messed up. He proved to be a selfish, reckless moron that is unfit to be ANYONE´S boyfriend.
Aside from this senseless plot, the movie was boring, witless and even insulting to ones intelligence.
I think you missed a huge aspect of the story, Borican. They both came up with the plan that Nick would be "bad" in order to be forced to live with his father, which in turn would bring the two love birds back together. Once Nick followed through with his end of the bargain, the girl of his dreams leaves, off to school, far away. True, she was closer to HER "dream" but the issue was that Nick thought HE was her "dream", just as she was to him. So he got her expelled so they would be back together.
You may call that selfish, but they devised the plan TOGETHER. Nick was going to be prosecuted for his crimes and have to take the blunt of all the punishment while she was off at school living her "dream"? And to boot, the only reason she was sent to school was because of him as well? How unfair is that.
In the end, she realized that he suffered so much grief trying to be reunited with her, and she was simply scoffing him off and leaving him to hold the bag. Thats why they got togetehr at the end, and thats why all is forgiven. She was being just as selfish as Nick was, perhaps even moreso! I dont know how any of this doesnt make sense to you. Its pretty simple stuff.
I think you missed a huge aspect of the story, Borican. They both came up with the plan that Nick would be "bad" in order to be forced to live with his father, which in turn would bring the two love birds back together. Once Nick followed through with his end of the bargain, the girl of his dreams leaves, off to school, far away. True, she was closer to HER "dream" but the issue was that Nick thought HE was her "dream", just as she was to him. So he got her expelled so they would be back together.
I realize all of that. I understood the plan. However you mention an important point: "but the issue was that Nick thought he was her dream." Nick was wrong, selfishly wrong.
If SHE really wanted to be with him, more than being in that school, he wouldn't have had to conspire with the other girl to give her the pills. He could have agreed with Sheeni to do that and she would have taken the pills her self.
The fact of the matter is, she wanted to be there.
You may call that selfish, but they devised the plan TOGETHER. Nick was going to be prosecuted for his crimes and have to take the blunt of all the punishment while she was off at school living her "dream"? And to boot, the only reason she was sent to school was because of him as well? How unfair is that.
First of all, Sheeni never knew that he was going to go so far as to blow "half of Berkeley". All I remember is that he said he was going to do something to get him kicked out. But it wasn't something so extreme, so has to make him a fugitive and scare her parents so much so as to sent her to boarding school.
That action was him and only him.
For the third time, I know she was sent to that boarding school because of his action (of which she had nothing to do with). But what relevance does that have? Does it make it right for him to drug her and get her expelled AGAINST HER WILL?
Because of these circumstances, she had a shot at her dream. Just because he created that circumstance, doesn't mean he has the right to take it away from her.
In addition, just drugging her is enough of a reason for her not to take him back.
In the end, she realized that he suffered so much grief trying to be reunited with her, and she was simply scoffing him off and leaving him to hold the bag. Thats why they got togetehr at the end, and thats why all is forgiven. She was being just as selfish as Nick was, perhaps even moreso! I dont know how any of this doesnt make sense to you. Its pretty simple stuff.
I'm not fan of Sheeni. Yes, she was being selfish. She knew that Nick was an innocent (at the time) 16 year-old virgin and played with him a bit, even though she had a boyfriend.
I'm just saying I just don't buy Sheeni letting him off the hook. reply share
"I'm just saying I just don't buy Sheeni letting him off the hook. "
Well you have to think about it like this. Lets say your dream was to own a brand new cadillac. You can acheive this goal by three means: One, your parents buy it straight out for you, 2, you work hard and save and buy the car for yourself, or 3, you mess with the finances of a neighbor who owns it to get the vehicle repossessed, and then you swoop in and buy it at a discount.
No matter what, you CAN acheive your goal by one of these means listed here. But would one make you feel better? WOuld one possibly ruin the whole point of having said DREAM?
Personally, I think Sheeni realized that she can still accomplish her goal of going to france without having it based on the fact that she was handed it on the back of Nick's misfortunes. What do you think?
Yeah, I agree, the boarding school was not the only option Sheeni had to go to France. However, it was definitely more likely that she would go being at that school than the other options she had. She didn´t seem to come from a particularly wealthy family (I know its weird since they apparently had enough money to send her to the boarding school), so her options were a bit limited.
But I agree, there were other options for her.
I think the difference is that your seeing it with an open mind and rationally. But trying to put myself in her situation, I would not be so forgiving. Yes, I would have other options to achieve my dream, but I wouldn´t forgive the person that selfishly made it harder.
As for your last line, again, even though I´m no fan of Sheeni (In fact, I kind of despise her), I just can´t seem to blame her for Nick´s misfortunes. Yes, she got to the boarding school because of it, but she wasn´t responsible for that. And Nick had no right to do what he did just because of that.
Even if I agreed with everything you said, just the drugging part, which is dangerous btw, is enough to blow him off, IMO.
Look, art as expressed in stories and film is not supposed to be a 100% reflection of reality. The point is to tell a tale. The story focuses on certain aspects of reality and magnifys them, its not supposed to be completely realistic. I think the burning down of that building (I cant remember how much burned) is an epic, exaggerated way to show his love for her (it was an accident anyway), and the whole "taking her dream away" as far as France is only to show her transformation from wanting a french boy to wanting HIM. By getting her away from the french school, so he could be with her again, He was replacing the french dream. Which is illustrated in the quote "No, im not your francois, im this guy who did things for you, Im Nick". She then kisses him and then makes love to him, symbolizing the fruition of her transformation from desiring french culture(this includes Trent, as he was at that school too remember) to desiring only Nick.