Do you remember that magical/nightmarish time when you were seventeen? I remember that time of awkwardness and not knowing who I was. Now while I don’t look back at High School as the best times of my life, but I do consider them the safest. It was a time when the only things you had to worry about was homework, and zits, oh yeah and your social status. It doesn’t matter if you loved or hated High School; the memories are something that become hard to forget when we see that movies have the ability to take us right back there, shouting to us “remember, remember!”. Just when we thought we were out, they pull us back in.
Never miss a chance to use a “Godfather” quote, especially one that feels so right. Mainly because as I watched “The Edge of Seventeen” I realized Nadine (Hailee Steinfeld) is I, and I am she, but only in male form. Nadine you see is one of the invisible kids everyone who walks around in the hallways. Nadine has just one friend, one who has been with her from 2nd grade in Krista (Haley Lu Richardson) and a brother in Darian (Blake Jenner) whom everyone wants to be around. After losing her father, Nadine losses her biggest supporter, which makes High School even tougher. Nadine has no one to turn to, except her history teacher Mr. Burner (Woody Harrelson), who tries and help her in his own way. What she finds in the end though is that it takes a bold move to make her understand what she has been missing the whole time.
We get plenty of movies that fit into this sub-genre, but it is only select few that make us feel like we are there. It is always the ones that we can relate to, and although I was never a seventeen-year-old girl, I was that age and this felt familiar. Writer and director Kelly Fremon Craig did the research to give you that feeling. The film, which took about four years to make it to the big screen, has the feeling of being an accurate portrayal. With a great story it needed the right person to pull of Nadine, and they found that is Steinfeld. She shows her full ability in this one as commands the roller coaster of emotions that is being a teenager perfectly. As much of a joy it is to watch Steinfeld, Woody Harrelson about steals ever scene he is in, as the teacher we all wish we had. “The Edge of Seventeen” ends up being one of those movies that will join the list of classic films about life in High School. It’s funny and charming, but at times a heart wrenching story, it is easy to see why it is destined to be one of your new favorites. So let the memories flood back, because we all remember what was like to be on that particular edge.
