Disappointed. Expected better from the trailer :-/

Rating: 7/10 (17 February 2013)

The movie has great performances. And anyone renting it is admittedly interested in seeing a coming of age movie - clichés and all. So, my problem? This movie is fine at being a modern adaptation of "pretty in pink," but when it tries to proffer depth, it goes heavy, and, frankly, it does not do this well. (Serious spoilers ahead) the film broaches the suicide of his best friend, by a chance comment he makes while high on marijuana- this dominoes into everyone adopting him as a Freshman buddy. But that's all we ever hear of the death of his best friend. The narrative revolves around him writing to a friend, but a friend never identified. Then we move on to an incestuous sexual abuse. This topic, worthy of its own 2 hour movie, is dealt with in the last 12 minutes of the movie, as a psychologically debilitating secret. But what about his dead best friend mentioned 30 minutes earlier? How can we empathize with one emotionally crippling tragedy when the other is just casually tossed aside? It almost seemed inept to pile on one tragedy after another, artificial and postured. Maybe that's why pretty in pink was just better as a genre film: It knew when enough was enough.