THE EDGE OF SEVENTEEN (Kelly Fremon Craig). 102 minutes. Opens Friday (November 18). See listing. Rating: NNN
Okay, so maybe Kelly Fremon Craig’s The Edge Of Seventeen isn’t the second coming of the teen movie. (Some of the more rapturous press out of TIFF seems a little… overenthusiastic.) But it’s well-observed and even touching, and those are never bad qualities.
The Edge Of Seventeen is basically a John Hughes movie for the present day, following a sensitive hero through a season of ups and downs that feel like the end of the world because she doesn’t have a larger frame of reference.
Hailee Steinfeld plays Nadine, a hyper-articulate suburban junior whose life falls apart when her perfect older brother (Blake Jenner) starts dating her best friend (Haley Lu Richardson).
Nothing happens that hasn’t happened in a hundred other teen pics – a subplot that has Nadine crushing on a blank but beautiful guy is so by-the-book, you keep waiting for a twist that never happens. But Fremon Craig plays up the emotional volatility in the various relationships and gets points for avoiding easy sitcommy solutions to complex problems. As Nadine’s reluctant mentor, Woody Harrelson has a lovely way of cutting through any teen-angst bullshit that might rear its head, and Kyra Sedgwick finds exactly the right level of sublimated panic as her anxious mom.
It’s also really nice to see Steinfeld get to shine again after her wobbly turn in Pitch Perfect 2 and a string of stiffs that included Ender’s Game, The Keeping Room and that awful Julian Fellowes version of Romeo & Juliet.
She’s raw and real and funny and engaged as Nadine. I just wish the movie around her were a little riskier.
