Review of The Edge of Seventeen (2016) by Jake N — 22 Nov 2016

Saw this instead of Fantastic Beasts due to timing and that movie receiving some harsh criticism from some of my most trusted critics. This coming of age teen dramedy has all the makings of an instant classic, but pretty much falls short at every turn.

Hailee Steinfeld is so earnest and believable in the role. The setup is perfect and the first act is endearing and funny. Then the movie completely changes tone and veers way off course in way too many different directions.

It takes itself way too seriously, and it's at its best when they actually try to have fun with the material (every scene with Woody Harrelson), but those are too far and few between. I also don't understand why this is rated R at all.

It's not a raunchy teen movie in the least. A few f-bombs and salty language they could've easily taken out to get a PG-13 rating and maybe more people would've seen it. Ultimately it is a meaningful and mostly enjoyable movie about loss and growing up.

But when you want so badly for it to break convention, it takes the most obvious route. It could've been the next Sixteen Candles or Mean Girls, but already proves to be much less memorable.