I thought I'd enjoy this movie more, but despite of liking Emma Stone's performance, I found the film ladden with cliches, tepid, sexist and a poor shadow of those wonderful teenage films directed by John Hughes. This is the portrait of a soulless, moronic generation that is obsessed with sex but isn't at all brave or progressive, unlike previous generations. A big hack job.
shareI agree. This film was so predictable and cliché. They tried to get us to empathize with Olive, but she acted so stupid and directionless I couldn't get into the story. Besides, who cares about virginity anymore in highschool?
shareCompletely agree. All of what you said, plus the underlying snippets of racism. Nothing wrong with being gay, but when you refer to the only Black person as a "big hulking Black guy," and make reference to Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn, and your disbelief that a Caucasian would run off with an African-American (in no uncertain terms), I think it begs the question: WTF is wrong with the writers? That was not, remotely, funny.
Anyway, this movie was extremely lame for all the reasons you mentioned. The only part I enjoyed was her goofing off with her audio birthday card. That was clever and cute.
What is racist about referring to Huckleberry Finn? Olive is making references to the books they've read in English class, and she relates more to being ostracized like Hester than running away like Huckleberry did. The character Brandon runs away with IS a black man. Her disbelief isn't about a black and white person being together, its about the story of Huckleberry Finn playing itself out in her high school.
Plus, her younger brother is black, so the man Brandon runs away with isn't the only black character.
Read the sentence again. I don't feel it's necessary to state that it is hard to believe that Huck Finn would run away with a "big hulking Black guy." Why is it necessary to describe a person in that way, then juxtapose it to the gay scenario at the end for laughs? This is an example of racism that is subtle or "Hipster racism," and I can understand if it is difficult for someone to recognize that - it's designed to be subtle.
ETA: She never describes other Caucasians, including herself, as "hulking white," "skinny white," etc. etc. In this movie, and many others, Caucasians are described differently, without "color" being brought into the equation. When people stop to think before using "color" to describe other people (while excluding themselves from the same method of classification), maybe then, they will start to comprehend how that would seem offensive to others.
BTW: Oftentimes, one lone person of African descent (or people of other ethnicities) is used in a movie to diffuse thoughts of "hey, that was racist." They're called "tokens." Hollywood does this all the time. Her brother was a "token."
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokenism
This is the portrait of a soulless, moronic generation that is obsessed with sex but isn't at all brave or progressive, unlike previous generations.And that was exactly the intention of the director.
Which says to me how oblivious the writers and director are to the goings on in the average American high school. Kids are more knowledgeable about sex, and more open to experimentation than ever. From sexting to actual sex, they're doing it and not embarrassed or truly judgmental about any of it.
If anyone is puritanical and two-faced, it would be the adults and lawmakers who can't even keep pace with technology. To the point where laws meant to protect kids from adult predators are being used by overzealous law enforcement agencies to go after teens who are sexting one another.
Here's an article about it: http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-201_162-4723161.html
Things are different from the days when a kids only access to porn was via daddy's skin mags. And those mags were quite tame to what's out there today. I remember those days. I remember the days of war dialing for BBS's because AOL, Compuserve, and Delphi were so expensive. Now, all you have to do is use an image search in your local browser on any Internet connected device (including smart phones and tablets that every modern kid has). This director seems to be stuck in a time long ago. Sadly too, many parents seem equally ignorant and unwilling to discuss sex with their kids, so the kids are experimenting all on their own.
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=22803231
This director seems to be stuck in a time long ago.Could be.
Emma Stone is cute as can be but if this really is how teenagers act today, we're all doomed.
shareIt's clichéd IMO in that once again, so many of the "high schoolers" look like full- blown adults. But Emma Stone's performance and the generally clever script set the film a peg or two higher than your typical teenage movie.
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