Film4, Film Agency for Wales, Red Hour Films
Craig Roberts, Yasmin Paige, Sally Hawkins, Paddy Considine, Noah Taylor, Gemma Chan
Oliver Tate (Craig Roberts) is convinced that his mother is rekindling an old flame who is a dance instructor and planning to leave him and his father. Oliver decides to do anything he can to save his parent’s marriage. He meets quirky teen pyromaniac Jordana (Yasmin Paige). Basically, we follow Oliver as he tries to torpedo his mother’s relationship while using all the tricks in his book to seduce Jordana.
This movie really didn’t click with me. It’s very quirky and though it’s a teen angst, coming of age, film, it’s deeper than the Hollywood version of teen love. This British version is much slower, and deeper with more dialog and deep thought than you’d expect. But it’s still strange in a weird way. Oliver’s parents (played by Noah Taylor and Sally Hawkins) are well played, with the disintegration of their lives together. There’s just nothing there anymore. Also, Oliver wants to be the perfect boyfriend, but he has not idea how to do that either, and he really hurts and disappoints Jordana time after time.
There are sweet moments, and times when it’s not a bad movie, but the problem is that there is not enough good stuff to keep your interest. I didn’t get it, and was pretty much bored throughout. I never really got into the characters and I felt like I was wasting my time. Every time I would try to get into it, it would turn dumb again. I can’t really recommend this film, and don’t rate it very highly. If you do decide to check it out, be sure you can take the slow goofy way this story unfolds. I was not a fan. I’m not really sure how to categorize this film, so I’ll file it under Drama and Comedy although it’s not really much of either, but I can’t figure any better way to describe it.
EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog
