This one came out three weeks ago, and I just now got around to it.
High school/coming of age movies are tricky, and, I think—for each of us—none quite compare to the ones that came out when we were in high school. For my parents, maybe it's Rebel Without a Cause, and for me, nothing beats The Breakfast Club, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, or anything with John Cusack or Molly Ringwald.
The Edge of Seventeen is far better than last year's pretentious and self-conscious Paper Towns and on par with The Perks of Being a Wallflower—and while it comes very close to capturing lightning in a bottle like Juno—it doesn't quite.
Nonetheless, it's really very well done, and there's no doubt—despite Hailee Steinfeld's many majorly annoying 'actorly' tics—that you'll be drawn in, if not only because her father is phenomenal, but in part because Woody Harrelson is, too.
It's got a million lines to make Amy Heckerling all sorts o' jelly, like Nadine's repartee with Mr. Bruner:
"I like that thing you do with your hair, not that you're bald or anything. The way you sorta make it go poof, or give it a little skoosh. It's nice. Lots of men wouldn't go to that effort."
"Thanks for that, Nadine; I like the way you circled back and fixed that."
See it, if you can, but save it for the telly on a rainy Sunday. Or, perhaps more ideally, a sunny Sunday, because it's all sorts of Vancouver gray.
