unamachita

I bought a ticket for this movie on the strength of Roger Ebert's review, and I was pleasantly surprised to find myself agreeing with his three-star review. It is a fairly corny teen flick, yes, but it's ABOUT something. I left the theatre thinking how some 18-year-olds focus on today, believing that they have all the time in the world to worry about the future, and others are faced with situations that make them grow up fast. People in the second group tend to realize that 18 is not to young to do something valuable, to change another person's life.

This definitely wasn't Shakespeare, but I was gently entertained, and it made me think. That's good enough for me.

Overall, I was disappointed in this movie. Although I like the actors playing the main characters, and I could appreciate that there was a great idea behind it all, this film just wasn't that great. Mostly, it was just plain weird and not as interesting as it wanted to be. However, the last 15 minutes or so the film was cracklingly alive. Chris Kattan's brief but memorable part at the end was focused and hilarious. I have often laughed at Kattan's work on SNL, but I was surprised at what a good actor he was here. He had a brief, amazingly moving scene with Bridget Fonda that almost brought tears to my eyes--which was more genuine emotion than the whole film had evoked in me up to that point. His performance almost makes the film worth a viewing, if you can't find anything else at the video store.

I saw this movie about a year before Star Wars: The Phantom Menance came out. It's an enjoyable movie, non-formulaic and with some good acting. I particularly enjoyed Jake Lloyd's performance, which is why I looked forward to seeing him as Anakin Skywalker. Boy, all I can say is that direction must make a huge difference. He was much stiffer and forced in SW:TPM than in this movie, in which he was natural and sweet. Worth a rental just to see how talented this kid actually is.