The Edge of Seventeen - Review

If you know me at all, you'd know that I am a major fan of the 90's/early 2000's teen comedy. Movies like American Pie, Clueless, etc. The teen movies of the later 2000's and early 2010's have not entirely been up to par. Yes, we got Superbad, Juno, and Easy A, but we also got The Duff and a Mean Girls 2. The Edge of Seventeen now feels like the pinnacle teen film about the Facebook, Twitter, Instagram generation. At the centre of it is Hailee Steinfeld who is great in this. Not only is she charismatic, but she is a great actress nailing both the comedic timing and the sad emotional beats. I should also point out that the production team did a great job, "dumbing her down" to fit the awkward, shy girl persona as opposed to her, "I didn't know that I was starving 'til I tasted you!" persona. It is also worthy to note that sometimes when you make your main character a bit of an "I hate my generation. They are all sheep" type character, it can be hard to like them and follow them throughout the story, but here, it works. Unlike a film like Pitch Perfect where Anna Kendrick's character is so ungrateful and mean-spirited, I cannot possibly want her to succeed. Also, a teen movie is only as good as it's supporting cast. While none of the supporting cast really "steal the show" so to speak, Woody Harrelson is loving every second he is on screen. It was also strange to notice that I have been to all of these filming locations before just in my everyday life. Overall, The Edge of Seventeen is a fun movie. It has it's emotional dark moments so don't go into it expecting extremely raunchy jokes all the time, but I believe that you can enjoy this movie for what it is. A teen movie for the modern era!