1st half is a waste, but 2nd half is good

Rating: 7/10 (9 July 2007)

I liked this film, I would've given it an 8 instead of a 7 had it not been for the tone of the first half of the movie.
The first 51% of the movie spends so much unnecessary time focusing on the theme of "angst-ridden, misunderstood teen meets the attractive, slightly eccentric, rebellious girl, who is seemingly part of the 'normal' crowd, yet is introspective and ordinary enough to understand and befriend that teen, who she becomes romantically interested in, afterall, what other outcome could there possibly be when two people like this meet each other." Does that sound like the beginning to a suspense/thriller, or a melodrama like Garden State or The United States of Leland?
On top of that, they made the first half of the movie a comedy. There's nothing wrong with any of these elements, but they didn't belong here. They should've used all that time to build suspense and intrigue, instead they put so much time into painting a very very detailed picture of his life (which is usually a good thing), and his relationship with the girl. What was the payoff in that? She played ZERO role in the finals acts of the film. See what I mean about wasted screen time? By the time they started focusing more on the key aspects (the neighbor), half the movie was over.