Review of The Edge of Seventeen (2016) by Phillip D — 03 Feb 2017

When I first caught this film blowing up, I said immediately that we had a case of runaway, off the tracks good reviews. And sure enough, The Edge of Seventeen was deeply underwhelming for a number of reasons that should have been apparent to the producers.

The key problem is that the girl who is so miserable, who got the awful acne is the trailer, really doesn't suffer that much in the actual film. In fact she's highly attractive and does relatively pretty well throughout the movie.

She's outspoken, funny and bold throughout. Her best-friend and somewhat protagonist throughout the film actually (and I did predict this as well) looks like a better fit for Steinfield's role, seeing as how she's at least quiet and reflective.

And so our girl on the edge of seventeen rarely actually struggles or has a reason to be so out of her mind. Now for those who have seen the film, you might be saying, what about her dad? What about her lack of friends? And this is where the film gets confusing.

It isn't that Steinfeld's character doesn't have reasons to struggle, it's just that the film's producers and writers fail to give those reasons gravity in the script or in the cinematography.

For example, her dad dies, which would work really well for a director-writer that wasn't a total newbie. In the film, it barely feels like a serious event. There's too much humor and not enough lingering, somber shots to even establish the father's death as anything other than a passing annoyance.

Same with the mother's dysfunction. The writing can't make up the gaps in the filming and by the time we get to the film's climax, we're wondering why the heck everyone is so worked up.

On top of these missteps, The Edge of Seventeen also suffers simply because Craig can't deliver anything new to the coming of age tale. The movie is, don't get me wrong, pleasantly enjoyable but it really fails to distinguish itself.

In a world of some really edgy coming of age movies released just this year (see American Honey, Morris From America, Moonlight), The Edge of Seventeen is a safe and predictable bet that clearly got way overhyped coming out of the gate.

I will say, Woody Harrelson is incredible however and even this lame movie can't keep him down. The guy is the funniest part of the film and seems born to play the snarky teacher. Let's get him into this role more often after we put this movie well behind us.