The Edge of Seventeen (2016) Review

The Edge of Seventeen might look like some generic coming-of-age high school movie to anyone who has heard of it. I assure you, though, never have I seen a movie this year that has a great blend of authenticity, poignancy, and humor wrapped into one. Kelly Fremont Craig's directorial debut is one of the best coming-of-age stories that I have seen throughout this whole decade.

Nadine (Hailee Steinfeld) is a moody and awkward teen who has a pretty negative stance on life. In short, life is terrible for her. The only bright spot that keep her going is her best friend, Krista (Haley Lu Richardson). Things take a turn for the worse when Krista begins dating Nadine's older brother, Darren (Blake Jenner), whom the latter is envious towards because of how popular and unbelievably perfect he is. It's there that she begins to enter a downward spiral.

Hailee Steinfeld gives a multi-layered performance, playing a character we all sympathize with despite how brash and mean-spirited she can be. We understand where she is coming from after her establishing character moment when the movie begins in medias res in which she considers suicide. I managed to partially connect with her because I was in the same position when it came to being social in high school. I couldn't fit in with any group because my interests differed from everyone else's. All that talk about her not posting Facebook statuses on mundane things or using emojis to communicate further drives this home.

Her interactions between other characters are about as genuine as they can be. At no point does this movie feel sugarcoated or manufactured; it all comes naturally. The interactions between her and Krista: heartbreaking. Anyone who has lost friends because of different circumstances will feel right at home here. The interactions between her and her mother (Kyra Sedgwick): harsh because they don't get along as well as Nadine did with her late father.

Nadine's interactions with this classmate named Erwin (Hayden Szeto) help counterbalance the harshness because they make up some of the heartwarming moments present in this movie. A romance begins to bloom and as Nadine (and the audience) begins to learn more about him, we begin to like the guy more. He shares Nadine's awkwardness, but is a likable person overall. Although I do wish that the depth he has was more expressed from him rather than spoken just to get it out of the way.

Another great performance comes from Woody Harrelson as the teacher, Mr. Bruner. He wins the award for Most Brutally Honest Teacher. His snarking makes for some of funniest moments that the movie has to offer. Both Steinfeld and Harrelson bounce off of one another just marvelously. Whenever Nadine talks about a problem she has, Bruner makes a sarcastic remark, like he deals with this stuff on a day-to-day basis. Underneath it all, however, he does seem to care for her; he just shows a different way of doing so.

That's another great thing to admire in The Edge of Seventeen: all the dialogue is tightly-written. As I have stated before, it's about as genuine as it can be. It can be witty, funny, and sad. A lot of my reactions lean towards laughing at funny scenes, wincing at the awkward moments, or just feeling bad for these characters. There are many lines that also hit me emotionally, which I won't spoil so you have to see for yourself. You know it does a good job when I react like that.

Some viewers may find this movie predictable. Once things are set in motion, they can quickly figure out what will happen next. Throughout the movie's runtime, I never bothered with that. I was so drawn in that my genre savvy mind was switched off because it was that great.

The Edge of Seventeen came right the heck out of nowhere and impressed me. Everything from its characters, dialogue, performances, humor, and direction, it's one of the biggest surprises of the year. The only gripe I have is that it could have used more scenes with Krista and Darren. They could have discussed more of their situation or exchanged looks with Nadine to drive the point home. Other than that, it's a well-made movie that is...

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