Alfonso Gomez-Rejon directs Thomas Mann, RJ Cyler and Olivia Cooke in this teen drama where two film nerds befriend a school kid dying of cancer.
Cute… a little too cute. Jon Bernthal lightens things up as the least likely history teacher in cinema ever. RJ Cyler and Olivia Cooke put in really sweet turns. There’s a definite vision here. It is The Fault in Our Stars for yoots who think they are way too smart and too sophisticated for such manipulative fare. I actually prefer the schmaltzier, more mainstream doomed teen romance. The mawk here is a little too try hard, a little to too cool for school! The homemade spoofs of arthouse classics are fun. There’s no way these seventeen year old dorks have better and more expansive moving image tastes than… me. It is a false note like when in other teen movies there’s that precious 14 year old cutie who is into The Pixies and The Stone Roses. It just doesn’t ring true. Let’s make teen movies for the kids, the references shouldn’t reflect the fantasies of middle-aged screenwriters. Desperate that their tastes are still relevant. Gripe aside, this is cute. And sweet. And mawkish.
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