Friday, November 25, 2016

The Edge of Seventeen (2016)

We loved this edgy coming-of-age comedy about a sardonic, angry, smart, funny, beautiful teenager who's always at the end of her rope. Hailee Steinfeld (last blogged for The Homesman) is outstanding as Nadine, Kyra Sedgewick (most recently in Kill Your Darlings) wonderful as her clueless mother, and Woody Harrelson (last in Now You See Me 2) surprisingly restrained as her favorite teacher. I watched Glee for a while but Blake Jenner (no relation to Caitlyn/Bruce) didn't look familiar to me. He's quite good as Nadine's brother Darian, as is Haley Lu Richardson as her best friend Krista. I also enjoyed the work of Lina Renna as little Nadine.

Kelly Fremon Craig, who wrote one feature script before this, makes her directing debut and it flows beautifully, with snappy, hilarious dialogue.

I must mention Nadine's wacky wardrobe, as designed by Carla Hetland, who also worked on 50/50, among many projects.

The soundtrack is credited to Atli Orvarsson (from Iceland) and four of his songs can be streamed by choosing this movie on his website. Chances are, however, you'll just remember the great songs, streaming here.

Critics and audiences on Rotten Tomatoes are lining up with us, averaging 94 and 88%, respectively. It's in wide release now, so you can catch it on the big screen or wait for the video--it won't lose in translation--but we recommend it highly.

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