Beanbioca As Good As It Gets

Kailansorac Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

Dirtylogy It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Tayyab Torres Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Wendy Godsend I was very prepared to like this movie a lot, given all the raving reviews. I left the film feeling like I'd eavesdropped on several gay teenagers gossiping about sex.Eric's irrelevant friendship and oddly specific boy drama in his personal life dominate the screen rather than addressing the finding and accepting of sexuality in a coming-of-age. I saw no redeeming qualities nor realism in the boys' relationship. It was an entire film's worth of meaningless, cheesy scenes between these two boys who hardly even knew each other, absent of chemistry, sentimentality or even friendship. I found it hard to imagine why they liked one another, and even harder to like either myself.Eric is used for sexual pleasure by numerous other boys, made fun of by the kids at school and loses his best friend. He's provided absolutely no glimmer of hope by the end; no silver lining, no promise that he finds contentment in himself or acceptance in his peers and family.Chris Stafford and Andersen Gabrych's performances were lackluster, unconvincing, and amateur, failing to save an already-sinking ship.I'm giving Edge of Seventeen four stars because I think young gay men may feel at least somewhat represented in their struggles, and I believe that is still important to consider. It isn't, by any means, a worthwhile movie if you're out of the rampantly hormonal age.

Franco-LA The better things about this movie were some of the performances (I would agree that Tina Holmes as Maggie was one of the best, a proved rationale for the reason that she, among all the principals, has the far larger list of credits), but the plot had many weak moments, and many predictable ones (such as the mother waiting all night for the boy to come home) and some unrealistic ones (that the father would be either oblivious, uncaring or unconcerned about his son's dress, demeanor, or potential homosexual. This would not be a very realistic response for a father in a small Midwest town in 1984, particularly over an 17 year old son and the older son at that. While predictable that the Maggie character would not merely be the best friend of the gay lead but also be in love with him, this was played true to life for the most part and among the better parts of the movie. What would not be as plausible would be that she would be so in love and so enamored that she wouldn't question the boy's sexuality either, until she saw him actually kissing someone. Nor would it be realistic that they would have their tearful meeting in her bedroom well before the "shock" of the kiss in a gay bar, a tearful meeting during which he would confess to having fooled around with an older gay boy, and that she would be forgiving, then go ballistic over a fully clothed kiss on the dance floor where the two men were not even doing anything like grinding into one another.I would also agree that the movie has a good point in not wrapping up all the resolutions at the end: does he go to New York, does the mother deal with his homosexuality or not, how does the father react, what happens with his childhood friend, Maggie, etc. However, contrary to what someone else note, the filmmakers did go for a feel good happy ending in the bar scene, more so underlined because they dragged an older, Ohio State boy (the Jonathan character) back to a bar on coincidentally the same night that Eric finally decided to reappear. It would have been sufficient to have the Lea Delaria dedication and the gay boy be happy, but the filmmakers obviously had to add the possibility of true love on top.As for the music, I do agree the soundtrack could have been so much better. This was no so much New Wave as it was Top 40 80s music with some GLARING omissions (Depeche Mode), Cars by Gary Numan, the Human League, ABC, Soft Cell's Tainted Love, and the most glaring omission of all was absolutely no Eurthymics music on the soundtrack, in his bedroom or the gay bar. If they couldn't get permission for their music or afford the rights, REWRITE THE DAMN screenplay and use a different tee!!!

TEmery The movie was well written, well acted, and well directed. I was struck by how believable the story was and the honesty with which it portrayed the struggles of coming out, not only for the gay individual, but also for the other people whose lives are touched. Chris Stafford, Lea Delaria, Tina Holmes, and Stephanie McVay delivered amazing performances. Worth seeing more than once!

litlfrog Believable, tender gay coming of age story. The characters were almost painfully believable--it was like reliving my early college days. Great club soundtrack as well: Eurythmics, Bronski Beat, ABC, etc. The one other comment at my time of writing refers to the characters as stereotyped, but I don't see them that way. I knew people just like them.