The Edge of Seventeen, Kelly Fremon Craig's directorial debut, is truly a millennial spectacle to behold. With all of the writing and fantastic story of an indie film contained inside a studio structure, this movie proves to be the Fast Times at Ridgemont High of our new generation. Hailee Steinfeld provides an utterly perfect performance and leads this incredible cast in a very moving story which touches on just about every uncomfortable and taboo aspect of teenage girls' young lives. Even though the directing follows just about every predictable and typical beat of this type of coming-of-age plot, the writing was powerful enough to overcome any generalizations that it had.
Nadine (Hailee Steinfeld) is a seventeen-year-old who has always considered herself distant from everybody else her age. Her "old soul" has always contrasted with her more popular and conventionally attractive brother Darian (Blake Jenner), and when Nadine's lifelong best friend Krista (Haley Lu Richardson) starts to date her brother, she looks to anyone for guidance in her newly manic situation. The writing in this film from newcomer Kelly Fremon Craig is the absolute greatest and most engaging aspect of it all. This movie perfectly encapsulates the teenage experience through the lens of Nadine and her stressful new positions that she has been put in. Through all of the different trials and tribulations that she goes through throughout this story, the writing thankfully still treats her as a strong, willing teenager. This is honestly where this film stood out the most in terms of its story. All of the teenage characters, especially Nadine, are written to be so realistic. There are no hyper-exaggerated personality traits or cliche motivations for any of the characters and that is where this film stands out the most in the crowd of cheesy, "relatable" teen films. The fact that this movie is rated R and is not afraid to hold back on its use of crass material or touchy subjects makes it that much more real. It may not have honed in on a specific subject (like anxiety in Eighth Grade) or done anything in terms of representation (LGBTQ+ in Love, Simon), but the authenticity of the female experience in this movie is beyond compare, especially in the way the female characters were treated like actual human beings.
Despite the incredible, female-centric writing in this film, I can not say as much for the directing and overall tone. Craig has proven herself as an amazing writer and unabashedly proud storyteller, but her directing is fairly generic. The main issue that was holding back this movie from loudly standing out was the fact that it was packaged just like a typical teen film. The mildly-alternative pop songs, the pacing of the film, and the way that a lot of the supporting characters behaved was a bit dull. I understand that they were there to mostly just act as foils, but it was still quite bland to see. The cinematography and editing were fairly generic as well, which only added to the teenage vibe. The characters that I loved the most, however, were Nadine and her teacher Mr. Bruner, played by Woody Harrelson. Steinfeld's portrayal of the struggling teen was honestly unlike any other I have seen. She brought such a complex and interesting energy to the character that I feel was a perfect choice. This character of Nadine, along with her quirks and slightly awkward tendencies, could not have been brought to life as well as Steinfeld did. Her chemistry with her teacher was also one of the best parts of the story. Harrelson plays a history teacher who could frankly not give a shit about his job or any of his students, save Nadine. Their relationship is the best developed one throughout this film, as it shows how much teachers actually care about the students who seem to show care and potential. Whenever Nadine was in trouble or felt overwhelmed, she would go and bug Mr. Bruner, who matched her sarcastic vigor to a tee and made for such a positive father figure that Nadine was searching for.
The Edge of Seventeen may be marketed as a generic teenage drama, but this film is a surprisingly amazing piece of coming-of-age filmmaking. Steinfeld and Harrelson absolutely shine as their shockingly relatable characters in this shockingly relatable story of the struggles that teenagers, particularly girls, share in today's culture.
My Rating: ★★★★
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