There are a lot of 'teen' movies on Netflix. Like, a lot. It's a very specific genre, strangely, and all of the teen movies I've watched all seem to have the same kind of feel to them, like they're books all written by the same author, or by different authors, all copying each other's style.
I'm not saying that all the teen movies are the same, just that they have the same feel to them.
It's difficult to explain. If you understand, then you understand. If not, then just forget I said anything in the first place.
Anyway, I was in the mood for a teen movie, and decided I would watch some of the ones that have been in my Netflix list for ages, and make a post out of it.
So here we are.
I'll stop rambling, and get into it.
When smart but cash-strapped teen Ellie Chu agrees to write a love letter for a jock, she doesn't expect to become his friend - or fall for his crush.
My Review!
Ellie Chu writes other students papers for cash. It’s a simple transaction. But when Paul Munsky corners her, asking for her to help him write, not a school paper, but a love letter? Things start to get a little more complicated. Especially when the girl Paul is trying to woo is Ellie’s crush. Strapped for money, Ellie initially agrees only to ensure the power stays on in her house, but she finds a friend in Paul, and finds herself unable to stop.
This is a story of love, but this isn’t a love story. Every moment of this film is about love, in one way or another, but it is not the story of two people finding love with each other. Love is too messy for it to be that simple. But this is a story about love for others helping people find themselves. After all, how can you love someone so completely when you aren’t even completely sure who you are, and what you want from life?
This film is packed with poetic turns of phrase, I don’t know if you can tell that it’s completely rubbed off on me by the way I’m writing this review! This film is romantic without the romance, but, in a way, that is what makes it such a good film. But I must share the opening lines of this film, because they were what stuck with me the entire way through:
The ancient Greeks believed humans once had four arms, four legs, and a single head made of two faces. We were happy. Complete. So complete that the gods, fearing our wholeness would quell our need for worship, cleaved us in two… leaving our split selves to wander the Earth in misery. Forever longing. Longing. Longing… for the other half of our soul.
Isn’t that completely heartbreaking and beautiful at the same time? I love it. This is a great film, not entirely heavy, although it does have some important themes – in particular, acceptance. Accepting yourself, and others, for who they are, and coming to an understanding that, while you can’t change who you are, once you accept you for yourself, a whole new world of possibilities opens up.
My Review!
Tessa Young has her whole life planned out. She has grown up spending time with her mother, and her best friend turned boyfriend, Noah. But, when she heads off to college, and the people she knows most in the world are no longer there with her, she has to make her way alone. And that includes figuring out who she really wants to be. When she meets Hardin Scott, a certified bad boy, she is torn between continuing to be the good girl she’s always been, and getting to know him.
This film is, unfortunately, not one I enjoyed. For the most part, I absolutely could not stand Hardin. He is arrogant, rude, condescending… in fact, Tessa says that she will not allow him to get a reaction out of her. And suddenly she’s infatuated with him? I can find no redeeming qualities for him in this film. Apparently this film is based on a book series – I don’t know if the book is better, and the film cut out things, but there is absolutely no build up at all. Tessa practically hates Hardin, then she loves him. And that switch happens in about ten minutes. I don’t mean to go on and on about it, but this film is about their relationship, and I just didn’t feel that their relationship worked at all. And I didn’t like Hardin… did I mention that already?
It wasn’t just my hatred for Hardin that made me not like this film. Important scenes were rushed over, without a clear conclusion. It almost had the feel of flicking through a book, reading a paragraph, and then moving on, without reading the full story. The film flowed, it wasn’t overly disjointed, but the story was. After reading some of the reviews for the book this film is based on, there is clearly a lot of extra information about important scenes that was not put into the movie. I do get that it’s a very long book (nearly 600 pages) and not everything can go into the film, but still.
I don’t often write bad reviews, and I know a lot of people really liked this film, but it absolutely was not for me. Well, we can’t all like everything!
The summer before college Auden meets the mysterious Eli, a fellow insomniac. While the seaside town of Colby sleeps, the two embark on a nightly quest to help Auden experience the fun, carefree teen life she never knew she wanted.
My Review!
Auden wants to do something different the summer before college. She has spent her entire life being a person she is not sure she wants to be, and she knows she can’t become someone else in her hometown. So she travels to visit her father, hoping that a change of scenery and new faces will help her figure out who she wants to be. And then, she meets Eli, a mysterious guy who helps her have fun on night time quests – quests to allow Auden to experience what being a teenager, and having fun, really is.
This film is laid out like your typical teen movie – the quiet girl who spends her time studying and reading goes away for the summer, and suddenly makes friends, after a life of not having any. But, there is so much more to this film. I did really enjoy watching this one. While Auden is unsure about Eli’s ‘quests’, she goes along with it, growing closer to her midnight companion, but at the same time, Auden is helping Eli, without even really knowing it. Eli has his secrets from the past, reasons for why he is only around in the middle of the night, when no one else is around, and as Eli helps Auden to live her life, Auden helps Eli to heal, and move on with his.
There is not a lot of romance in this film, but a lot of great friendships – I’m not going to lie, I’m jealous of Auden. What I would give for an Eli of my own, to do quests with in the middle of the night! Also, I haven’t ridden a bike in ages, and haven’t owned one in longer, but Eli rides a bike, and bikes are a big thing in this film, and now I really want to get a bike to ride it around where I live. I might have to try and find one for sale!
Anyway, I went off topic a little. Amazing film, great friends, good feels. All of it. Love it. Highly recommend!
A clean-cut high school student relies on the school's rumor mill to advance her social and financial standing.
My Review!
Olive did not expect a little lie she told her friend to get out of going camping to escalate quite as much as it did. One minute, she had a date with an imaginary guy, the next minute, she had spent the weekend with him, and lost her v-card. And suddenly, the whole school knew. But it wasn’t the fact that everyone believed Olive had sex that really caused the problem – it was Olive’s inability to not help people out. So, she also fake slept with someone because they were bullied for being gay. And then someone else. And so on, and so forth.
To be fair to Olive, it was a very good business that she had going on. People could say that they had made out with her, slept with her, ect. In exchange for gift cards. The only problem was that Olive’s reputation went rapidly downhill with so many people believing that she actually had done so, and her life got very difficult, very quickly.
This is a very comedic film, although a serious one at the same time. There are jokes, sure, and Olive’s parents are the most chill, sarcastic, carefree parents any film has ever created, but Olive doesn’t exactly have an easy time of it. She loses friends, people refuse to talk to her, or those that do talk to her only want to spend time with her for her reputation. She is incredibly lonely, even though all the attention is always on her. She is completely ostracized, and can’t figure out how to free herself.
This is a great film. I’ve seen it many times before, but I wanted to watch it again, and it seemed a great addition to this post. I’ve done poetic, terrible, romantic… time for comedy! Also, Emma Stone is amazing by herself. Perfect for the role of Olive. Anyway, love this film, I’ve watched it at least five times, will watch again!
And done!
I wasn't entirely sure how many movies to include in this post. There's something that demands I stick to odd numbers – a review of one film, or three, or five... but I said screw it, I didn't want to have to find another film, so I did four instead.
Anyway, that's all for now...
Bye!
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