Movie Reaction: The Edge of Seventeen

Formula: Pretty in Pink + 30 years

High school movies are weird. They are some of the most inconsistent movies their are. Even looking to the John Hughes classics, they are rough-around-the edges and lack cinematic refinement. The casting often uses youth as an excuse for questionable acting. They are rarely as clever as they think. But, dammit, something about them just works, and that's very much the case with The Edge of Seventeen.

First and foremost, it's a Hailee Steinfeld star vehicle about Nadine, who is a high school reject, somewhat by choice. Her dad died unexpectedly a few years ago. Her mother (Kyra Sedgewick) is trying to keep it all together and looks outmatched. She has a perfect brother, Darian (Blake Jenner), who is handsome, smart, and likable. The boy she likes doesn't even know who she is. She only has one friend in the world, Krista (Haley Lu Richardson), that is, until Krista start dating her brother. That triggers a complete breakdown by Nadine in typical teen fashion.

There's nothing revolutionary about the movie. It only goes as far as Hailee Steinfeld will take it, and luckily, the former Oscar nominee nails it. I'll be honest, I've only seen her in True Grit (which got her the Oscar nomination) and P2: The Mighty Bellas last year. In P2, she didn't look ready to be a lead and, while enjoyable, spent the whole time trying to be cute. This role is the polar opposite. She's an abrasive person, and the film does a good job pointing out that she's her own worst enemy. 95% of her problems are self-generated. It's less of a story of what to do when your back is to the wall and more about how to get yourself out of the corner you put yourself into.

Woody Harrellson is the movie's "secret sauce". He's the exhausted teacher Nadine goes to for advice. He's seen it all before. He is happy to dismiss all of her dramatic claims when she's venting and also knows when to chime in with some sage wisdom. Harrellson really is a better actor than this role needs, and the film benefits greatly as a result. Most of the cast is expertly deployed. Blake Jenner is a non-character for 2/3s of the movie, then steps in with some big moments. Hayden Szeto keeps popping up as Steinfeld's obvious love interest once she gets past the guy she's crushing on. Kyra Sedgwick is the overbearing mother or the mother who disappears for a weekend depending on what the film needs. Even if full characters aren't developed beyond Steinfeld's, the film does a great job indicating that these are characters who exist even when they aren't in a scene.

My only real concern is that I'm not sure the script does enough to indicate why people put up with Nadine. Szeto's character, Erwin, keeps accepting her shunning his advances and basically toying with him and I don't really know why. Toward the end of the movie, Krista mentions that she misses Nadine, and I thought "really?". I don't want to overstate this though. I'm on Nadine's side and it isn't hard to believe people in her inner circle could like her. I just don't think the film shows enough support for it.

I love that this is allowed to be an R-rated movie. Often, the phoniest thing about high school movies is that high schoolers don't talk with a PG-13 vocabulary. Since the MPAA is determined to remain hopelessly out of touch with its standards, I respect any time a filmmaker or studio just ignores them and keeps the rating that works for the movie they are making. Steinfeld and Harrelson are great. The film successfully captures a lot of the feeling of being in high school and keeps the cheap tricks to a minimum. It's somewhere between the Mean Girls view of high school and the John Green view of high school, and that's a good place to be.

Verdict (?): Strongly Recommend