WATCH THE TRAILER HERE
First, the Recap:
The art of reckless yet carefree misbehavior. An attitude of all-out rebellion. The nagging sense of “it’s me against the world”. Perhaps most notably associated with our more “outgoing” and precocious teen years, choosing to enact a cavalier state of being towards one life tends to not work out for the best, no matter how much we believe it has or will. Yet, patterns of uncaring actions emerge, giving us a false sense of invincibility. What happens when it all comes crashing down? For one beautiful young girl named Erica (Zoey Deutch), it’s all become about exploring her sexuality in decidedly foolhardy ways while turning said encounters into blackmail schemes with her friends Kala (Dylan Gelula) and Claudine (Maya Eshet). Figuring she’s actually doing society a favor by weeding out predators, all seems “good”, much to her longsuffering single mother Laurie’s (Kathryn Hahn) lament, while justifying her actions as a means to and end to raise funds to free her incarcerated father.
With the unsteady home life and overtly rebellious demeanor, the situation doesn’t improve even when her Mom’s new beau, Bob (Tim Heidecker), enters the picture, a meek stuffed shirt nowhere close to being a match against an angsty, indifferent Erica. However, Erica’s world gets shaken up upon learning she’s getting a new adopted brother named Luke (Joey Morgan), a mentally troubled boy just out of rehab. Resisting at first in her own inimitable fashion, Erica suddenly finds herself forming a highly unlikely bond with Luke over time, ultimately drawn in by his neurotic, unassuming, and hesitant manner. Soon, Erica, Luke, and her friends are involved in a venture involving a local teacher, Will (Adam Scott), with whom Luke has a potentially devastating past tie to.
Next, my Mind:
There is certainly no getting past the fact that this newest 90-minute indie feature film project from director/co-screenplay writer Max Winkler, co-screenplay writer/producer Matt Spicer, and co-screenplay writer/story writer Alex McAuley is an unapologetically irreverent, dark dramedy that succeeds in delivering both shock and awe content while ultimately providing a much deeper, grounded, unsettlingly human narrative about one teen girl’s escapades and the lives she touches whether for good or ill. Cause and effect, the ramifications of choices good and bad, the dissent between parent and child, and the unexpected foundering of one’s belief system when confronted with another’s own vices and/or internal conflict are all notions explored here through the dysfunction of two broken souls forced together but then coming to a place of trust and companionship neither was looking for or truly desiring.
The overall content here, which is blatant, undisguised crude humor, sexual situations, and heavy amounts of language, especially in this context and extent, is not really in this critic’s wheelhouse, and so I felt challenged at times to keep watching (the very opening scene pretty much establishes the tone with blunt force vigor). Yet, despite this, and while it was still hard on many levels to say I totally enjoyed the film, the greater narrative and themes being offered do find a way into your mind and can even seem relatable, though hopefully not remotely via the same circumstances presented. It’s an illustration of how lost we can be sometimes when all we’re really trying to achieve is a solidified sense of purpose and intent in our lives, which here Erica thinks she is until faced with the reality it’s not the case. Having to actually, sincerely care about another–their actions, their ideas, their demeanor, their struggles and victories–and how that molds you when you allow it is at the heart of this, under all the surface dirt. That gives the film an emotional punch that, by the film’s finale, is both disturbing and somehow memorable and striking.
Coming off what this critic felt was a wonderfully nuanced performance in 2017’s surprisingly affecting teen drama “Before I Fall”, rising star actress Deutch brings an equal amount of less subdued, more blatant intensity for her role as Erica, a teenager bowing under the weight of her own expectations and warped albeit well-intentioned (?) actions, a broken home life, the longing to see her father again, and now the unwanted burden of a new “brother”. But, the more Erica acts out against everything she believes tries to impede her path, she finds that the empty void she’s made inside might actually require something or someone to fill it, and hence she opens up to Luke, who becomes that confidant and fortuitous friend, even with her initially abrupt and crassly forward approach she initiates their “relationship” with. Watching Erica slowly get transformed as the film progresses is a wonder to witness, given the character’s wild and irresponsible exploits at the start, and Deutch nails it with bravado, passion, and no-holds-barred grit.
Hahn is one of the great character actresses of her generation, and she continues to showcase that here in playing Erica’s mother Laurie, a single parent with an ex-husband in prison and a daughter that she loves to death, but has such a hard time handling given her crazy antics. Yet, she remains steadfast in her devotion to Erica, and tries everything she can to be there for her, even as she also navigates a new relationship with straight-laced Bob. Hahn always brings a grounded realism to her characters, and this is no exception. Morgan is a cool study in understated delivery in playing Erica’s now adopted “brother” Luke, a kid already having to battle his own inner demons thrust into the equally chaotic world Erica resides in, at first not really wanting any connection to occur, but then through situations both forced and chosen, he ends up being freed from much of his anxiety through her, though it could still be argued it might not always be for his betterment on the surface. Still, Luke grows and heals as he bonds with Erica, and Morgan embodies that dynamic well in his enacting of the character.
Supporting turns are present from Scott as the local high school teacher Will, a man proverbially on the run from his own past that has been marred by an accusation leveled against him by Luke, Gelula and Eshet as Erica’s partners in crime Kala and Claudine who we see support and fully benefit from Erica’s sexual capers, Heidecker as Laurie’s nerdy good-two-shoes new beau Bob, who quickly finds he has his hands more than full with Erica, and Eric Edelstein as Dale, a local cop with a sordid habit that lands him in Erica & Co.’s crosshairs to start everything off. In total, while not a preferred film overall for this critic, fans of this style of darkly edgy dramedy will have their fair share of it to revel in while the stand-out performance from Deutch will definitely cement her status as an up-and-coming “one to watch”.
As always, this is all for your consideration and comment. Until next time, thank you for reading!
