More than just a story

Rating: 10/10 (3 April 2013)

I can count on one hand the number of movies I've wanted to immediately watch again after the first viewing.
That's the difference between a story being told and an emotional connection being made.
I had the good luck of watching this film with zero expectations. I hadn't read the book. I couldn't identify any of the actors straightaway save Paul Rudd. That's fortunate because some actors carry baggage with them that exists only in your mind - I feel like I already know things about a character played by Rudd simply because his archetypes haven't been very diverse, but he wasn't important enough to the story to have that affect my perception. I didn't know who Emma Watson was because I've only ever seen the first Harry Potter film, and she looks absolutely nothing like she did ten years ago. Erza Miller was vaguely familiar but I couldn't pinpoint him from "We Need to Talk About Kevin" until after I checked out his IMDb page.
The journey this film takes you through - first day of high school, first party, first kiss, first date - is something so many people can connect with. But oddly, people who are about the same age of the characters will have a harder time relating because of the setting of the movie. I'm just barely old enough to remember making mix tapes and not always having a cell phone as a teen, which makes my generation possibly the last generation in Middle America to experience those things. But despite being born about ten years too late to fully put myself in the context of the movie, I really could connect with the characters in a way I don't feel younger people would these days. Doing all of those "firsts" outside the context of Facebook, smart phones, and the generally over-socialized loneliness of today just seems silly.
The connection that's made with the characters is merely the primer for the heartbreak, devastation, and happiness they all go through. If the movie merely made you have empathy for the characters but didn't challenge you, or if it put characters through turmoil without making you feel for them, it just wouldn't have the same effect. Both things have to happen in order for that emotional connection to be made, in order to make the film more than just a story that you never care to hear again.