The edge of seventeen how to#

Hailee Steinfeld performance carries this entire film. If Sixteen Candles, Pretty In Pink, and an adult R-rated version of Diary of a Wimpy Kid had a baby, it would be this movie. It really blends in a ton of films from the 80s yet set in a modern age where it speaks about how disconnected we are with technology. With this film written and directed by Kelly Fremon Craig, this has a rebellious spirit that's very honest and endearing. If you’re a guy or girl we have different versions of this type of story yet it's always great to see one we can get behind with and The Edge of Seventeen is one of those films. In a very post-John Hughes era, it is still great to have these coming of age films to show us that life sucks especially being a teenager. It’s a brave performance, never once kowtowing toward likability, and reason to believe that Steinfeld deserves to be a star.THE GOOD: There has been a lot of films released recently that feels as if they could be made in the 80s and still get away with its storytelling. Nadine stands there, at once forlorn and defiant-in need of a hug but ready to bite your hand if you were to try it. Mostly she keeps the camera close-a smart move given Steinfeld’s remarkably expressive face-but here and there she’ll position her alone in the frame, pointedly apart from other social interaction. Along with an ear for on-point dialogue, Craig has a sharp visual eye, especially when it comes to capturing Nadine’s interior state. That screenplay is by Kelly Fremon Craig, who also makes her directorial debut. Hayden Szeto has some nice moments as the obvious boyfriend material Nadine can’t quite see, while Haley Lu Richardson, as her best friend, registers strongly at the start before getting somewhat forgotten by the screenplay. Speaking of which, The Edge of Seventeen has an uncommonly strong supporting cast, from Harrelson as that lifeline of a teacher to an extremely vulnerable Kyra Sedgwick as Nadine’s mess of a mom to Blake Jenner as her popular older brother (their sibling spats are hilariously exact). The challenge is to find the right formula, the one that feels the most true and best honors her relationships with her family and friends. Rather, she adjusts the chemical balance constantly, understanding that Nadine’s sneer and smile are both a part of her.

It’s not just that she “pretends” for most of the time and then gives us a scene or two of the “real” Nadine. If being a teenager means trying on many masks each day to see which one fits, Steinfeld juggles the many Nadines beautifully. Steinfeld juggles the many Nadines beautifully.

The edge of seventeen how to#

His calm response is the film’s first big laugh-and an early sign that this guy knows how to speak extreme sarcasm, Nadine’s language. The film opens with a perfectly played scene in which she comes storming into the classroom of her history teacher (Woody Harrelson), interrupting his lunch to tell him she’s going to kill herself. Nearly everything Nadine does-from her frank sexual language to her anti-fashion wardrobe- is a bluff, a show of brazenness in an attempt to mask her roiling insecurity. Yet if there she proved herself to be a precocious juggler of the Coens’ verbal batons, here she does something similar, and more: her motor-mouthed, whip-smart Nadine is an achingly funny portrayal of a high schooler in search of that rarest of jewels, a confident sense of self. You can’t really call The Edge of Seventeen Hailee Steinfeld’s breakout, considering she anchored, quite capably, the Coen brothers’ True Grit in 2010.