Tuesday, June 7, 2011

dont confuse legibility with communication.

last night i caught an early screening of the new emma roberts and freddie highmore movie, the art of getting by. while watching i begun to note a handful of similarities between the movie and emma roberts' other teen dramedy, it's kind of a funny story.

they both featured: weird, but cute male leads disconnected from society, peers and family. man bangs. finding therapeutic guidance from art and sketching. older and equally flawed mentors. beautiful new york landscapes serving almost as a character within itself. fantastic indie music soundtrack and of course, roberts playing the object of affection, who ultimately helps the male lead to find himself, sealed with cinematic kisses and nose grazes.

i really enjoyed it's kind of a funny story and wanted to say the same thing about the art of getting by, but despite some really fantastic moments, the movie was just too uneven. my qualms start at a very basic point: many of the film's settings were too unrealistic. sally and george are supposed to be seniors in high school, with sally appearing to lie about being 18 to appeal to an older man. but throughout the movie, they're in bars, clubs and always drinking beers. not even a mention of a fake id! also, the tone of the movie seemed really forced at times with too many one dimensional characters not given more organic ways to build relationships. however, my favorite parts remain the interactions between sally and george and when they weren't on screen together, the movie seemed to drag a bit. i'll stop so i won't spoil anything. maybe i'm just being unfair cause i'm comparing the movie to another one, but go see it for yourself and tell me what you think. 

one last thing, freddie highmore you're adorable and all but you must work on a stronger american accent!



-t