Brendon Jones
It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.
Paul Alexander
This is at tops a TV movie designed for a Sunday afternoon when you have nothing better to do. It does stray along way from Pete Fromm's book which is considerably more intense and describes the falling apart of a family in greater detail than the film. The performances were OK, James Marsden and Claire Danes gave below par performances compared to their other work. Sarah Bolger carried the role of Lucy off nicely but for obvious reason didn't commit to the character 100%. For those interested it might be worth doing a search for a Matthew J. Clark short called 'Dry Rain' based on a short story by Pete Fromm.If you do enjoy the film it is very much worth reading the book which goes into many of the implied topics in the film in greater detail.
blakkdog
I thought the film largely lacked tension even at points where there should have been and that combined with the teen coming-of-age perspective made it seem more like a scatter brained after school special then a serious movie about a kid finding herself. They left so many things disconnected and made illogical jumps from one thing to the next. Sara Bolger definitely comes off as too mature for a 15 year old and that throws you some, especially as they are trying to make her character precocious and much smarter (and more mature) then her dimwitted poor choice making mother. And there's no logical consistency from one point in the story to the next. Why do they set up her initial relationship with her long time best friend as if its her destiny and then he's basically removed from the movie other than post cards and a phone call? Whats with that clever scene where they are feeding the dogs and the boy says he wants this to work long term and doesn't want to do anything to risk it like more sex and then BAM shes on him again and hes fine with it and he's gone shortly after? Felt wrong. And her jumping into a car with high school jock dude after all the speeches about being disgusted by people like that and NOT being interested in the least. And getting date raped and then being furious with his friend but getting over it and jumping into bed with him? None of that worked for me. (And why would the jock/prom king cliché character even be interested in her! What was so special about her? Had he made a bet? She wasn't particularly pretty or alluring). Her character wasn't ditzy or insecure enough to justify her actions. They made her into this righteous wise young person who says all the right things and really seems to get it but her actions were completely alien to her character. You can have her be a precocious kid. Just don't have her be the one person in the film that the audience thinks understands the difference between right and wrong (because that character foil is necessary so she can be the counterbalance to her stupid immature parents who make endless dumb decisions). And then we are supposed to believe that the mom was a nun until just recently even though the entire movie she acts like a desperate slut and THATS why Lucy has decided to run out and screw different guys? Because her mom told her she hadnt until recently and she doesn't want to end up like that? No... Doesn't work... In the end the only message I got from this movie was parents can be dumb and immature and you can be smart and wise for your age but you should still have promiscuous sex with different people just so you don't end up regretting your relationship with your childhood best friend when you are older. Oh and is her name a reference to the Beatles song? That bothered me the whole film...I will say the sign I enjoyed the most (and the ONLY scene where I felt any worthwhile tension) was the well laid out dueling scenes where the mom runs into an confronts the man shes cheating with in the store with his family at the exact same time was Lucy's dad comes home unannounced and walks in on her having sex with a guy. The back and forth and increasing tension of both scenes worked well. Claire Danes was especially convincing emotionally during this scene. And we needed more of that kind of uncomfortable tension during the rest of the movie. The rape scene was much too easy to take and she just... gets over it after a while. What?! Are we supposed to assume in the end she going to go back to her original boyfriend once she is done exploring the world and getting with different guys? The movie needed to be more clear on that if so. They just leave that relationship out there. What they presented as destiny before no seems on hold or disconnected and you don't know what to think about it. All the post cards and calls but out she runs with other guys even though we are supposed to accept that shes a smart girl who makes better choices then her mom... And we are given no closure with the last boyfriend who we assume ran off after being attacked by her dad? and she doesn't seem effected by that. And the whole Mario thing creeped me out just slightly. Was he supposed to become a character in the movie? She dwelled on him a little too much for him to be just a chef on TV that inspires her.In the end, I enjoyed Bolger's performance but I don't think the movie fit together well and it ran flat without enough tension where the things that were being depicted clearly needed tension to make the audience uncomfortable and challenged. The dynamic with the mostly absent dad is overwhelmed by the dynamic with the slutty dumb blonde mom because shes there more often until she abandons her in the end for an old flame. Its not really a coming of age film its more a "My crazy nonsensical family life" film where the actions don't make complete sense.
puruagarwal96
ah! no words for this movie. What to say, acting was perfect, direction was super perfect and the best part; the movie held my emotions till the very end. Based on the book by Pete Fromm, this movie is a very well placed movie. A story about a girl who faces problems because of her parents bad relations and a friend cum lover who is always with her but then the movie takes a turn and changes her life all the way round and it just gets worse and worse. The movie is depressing at sometimes but lets just face it that these kind of depressions are in everybody lives. This movie is really something and i would recommend every teen to specially watch this movie and learn how to be tough in worst situations. Well done Mr. Max Mayer (DIRECTOR), Mr. Pete Fromm for your beautiful novel. And Love You Sarah Bolger for your fantastic acting. I don't even touch you. I have to learn a lot from you! My acting is nothing in front of yours. Congrats! :) 9/10 :)
Steve Pulaski
As Cool as I Am isn't really a gripping film, and will likely be far away from my favorites of the year, but in terms of trying to revitalize the coming-of-age drama with a delightfully contemporary idea and script is succeeds solely on that merit. It concerns Lucy (Sarah Bolger), a well-mannered fourteen year old who has a lumberjack father Chuck (James Marsden) who is away for long periods of time due to work and her mother Lainee (Claire Danes), who might as well be her age thanks to her attitude and approach to reality. Lucy always had the idea that her family was "stable" in that they functioned like a normal family. However, as she gets older, she realizes her family is a "real" one, with problems and conflicts that are usually not instantly noticed by kids. This whole idea of "stable" and "real" families is discussed in the opening monologue, pretty much admitting the film will not be a narrow look at this common issue that is quickly growing.That issue is having a child at a young age. Chuck and Lainee had Lucy when they were both seventeen, making them not much older than her in retrospect, leaving most of their decisions to be rather impulsive and quite questionable. For such a contemporary issue - having children and kids young and, often, out of wedlock - this one is scarcely brought up and thrown into public eye. Director Max Mayer, of the 2009 sleeper-hit Adam, brings a mature and focused look to the subject by allowing each character some expression and a moment when their personality comes out.Lucy is already becoming a young woman, and with an unstable family life and an absent father, this leads her on a path she wouldn't normally take. She becomes more flirtatious, acts differently around her guy friends, and on several occasions almost consents to sex. This plot alone wages the question "are teens more likely to become rebellious if they do not have both parents playing a significant role in their life?" When her father returns home, and realizes that Lucy has, for one, driven the car unsupervised after her mother arrives at an interview, and has gone on to kiss several different boys, he becomes mad and very violent out of nowhere. That's his moment to shine; would his anger be so prominent and consuming if he had been home consistently? The only other main character is the mother, whose reckless behavior is almost as bad as her husband's absence. She becomes flirtatious at the office, even so far as to have sex with a co-worker not long after beginning to work there. After finding this out, Lucy can use this as bait to justify her actions rather than be awkwardly silent when he mother ridicules her for her behavior. The character's actions are one big, tangled cycle that only fuel and unintentionally elaborate on each others decisions.As Cool as I Am asks a lot of questions and, in the end, quietly leaves the audience with deteriorating optimism that maybe Lucy will end up unsatisfied later in life, and at only fourteen, this idea likely hasn't crossed her mind. Writer Virginia Korus Spragg does a smooth job at developing the characters on the surface and subtly evoking commentary on the new generation of kids, many of whom likely to be raised by a more uncertain, rushed generation of people. I see another cycle coming along.Starring: Claire Danes, James Marsden, and Sarah Bolger, and Jon Tenney. Directed by: Max Mayer.
