Review of The Edge of Seventeen (2016) by Clint B — 03 Mar 2017

Edge of Seventeen is Viscerally Awkward, Brutally Honest, and Really Great.

Edge of Seventeen, simply put, is a coming of age film. It stars Hailee Steinfeld, who made waves in 2010 as the breakout star of the Coen Brothers remake of the classic John Wayne film True Grit. Steinfeld plays a young high school student named Nadine, who is awkward, abrasive, and antisocial. She is simply trying to make it through high school, with the help of her best (and only) friend, Krista, as well as her favorite teacher whom she often goes to for guidance, played by the always agreeable and perpetually charming Woody Harrelson. However, Nadine's world gets turned upside down when Krista starts dating Nadine's brother, whom Nadine despises.

Edge of Seventeen at first glance, is yet another teen movie, catering to a very specific, adolescent target audience. However, viewers will notice almost immediately that this movie is rated R for Restricted. Specifically, this movie contains a lot of swear words and conversations about sex. However, what the R rating affords this movie is the capacity to portray an incredibly realistic American high school experience, portraying loads of conversations about the various things that modern teens actually talk about, and to be brutally honest about how much it sucks to be an adolescent.

If you happen to be someone like me who deeply resented the high school experience (as well as themselves in high school,) then this movie will hit you like a truck. It's brutally awkward. The film provides two potential love interests for Nadine: Nick (Alexander Calvert), a brooding, mysterious teen heartthrob who just got out of juvenile hall and is the object of Nadine's unhealthy obsession, and Erwin (Hayden Szeto) a lovably awkward and socially inept art kid who pines for Nadine's affection after sitting next to her in class. The whole thing is a bizarre triangle of misguided affection, and despite the improbability of describing this particular subplot in a way that doesn't make it sound like yet another dumb teen love triangle, it's superb. The writing and dialogue in this movie is excellent.

It's so visceral in its awkwardness that it drags you, willing or not, back into the still developing mind of a teenager, making you earnestly feel that your problems and mistakes carry a tremendous weight to them. That your problems spell the end of the world. In one sequence, which was shown prominently in trailers for the film, Nadine types an incredibly risky and vulgar text to Nick, describing sexual acts that she would like to do with him, in order to get him to go out with her. She types it out, and has a laugh at her own expense, because what she has typed is insane. She realizes that, of course, she can't send it. She reaches for the cancel button. But accidentally hits the send button. When this happened, my heart dropped straight down into my stomach, as did hers. Because the movie pulled me back into this fragile high school mentality, I felt as if this was the end of the world for Nadine, and it was the strongest sense of impending doom that I had experienced from a movie in a long time. It's gripping stuff. Check it out - it's more than worth the price of admission.