The movie, “The Edge of Seventeen,” written by Kelly Fremon Craig, is a not your typical coming of age, cheesy, teen comedy. Rather, it is jam-packed with attitude, foul language, and some reckless (but seemingly, fun) behavior from the main character Nadine Byrd, who is played by Hailee Steinfeld. Nadine is a junior in high school and a fairly troubled teen who has never really been able to fit in or been able to make friends easily. She loves using crude language and, unfortunately for her, is on an emotional roller coaster while trying to figure out who she is and who she wants to be.
Luckily for Nadine, she made one friend very early on, Krista, who is played by Haley Lu Richardson. However, something melodramatic, of course, has to take place in order for the movie to have a grand finale and so the main character can make his or her triumphant victory.
The unfortunate turn of events in this movie for Nadine were, not only her father dying with her in the car, but then years later her only friend begins to date her older brother, who she despises. Darian, played by Blake Jenner, is Nadine’s super-hot, athletic, and extremely popular brother, who is also a senior at her high school. He takes a liking for Nadine’s best friend, Krista, one night after a party and after that, they are practically inseparable. This destroys Nadine and she rids herself of, what she considers to be, her best friend turned traitor (for sleeping with the enemy).
When all hell breaks loose in Nadine’s world, she has no one to turn too. Her mother Mona, who is played by Kyra Sedgwick, doesn’t understand her at all and is too self-involved it seems to give her daughter the time of day. Of course, Nadine doesn’t make their relationship any easier with her sarcasm and sassiness. Since she is unable to talk to her mother about what is going on in her life, she confides in a teacher at her school Mr. Bruner, who is played by the ever-talented, Woody Harrelson.
In a very strange turn of events, Mr. Bruner is able to motivate, be there for, and guide Nadine through her struggle with the everyday chaos that is associated with being unpopular and teased in high school. Although the relationship between Nadine and Mr. Bruner is odd and they don’t play very nice with each other, it is evident that the connection between the two is father-daughterly and helps her with that crucial bond she has been missing since her own father died years back. Mr. Bruner tells her how it is and is basically the only one who calls her out on her childish and dramatic behavior.
Nadine also forms another, semi-odd, relationship with an awkward and nervous boy, Edwin Kim, from her high school, who evidently has a serious crush on her. Edwin, who is played by Hayden Szeto, is uncomfortable and pretty much unable to form a sentence around Nadine, but his unconditional affection helps Nadine find herself and she eventually see’s the light (that is Edwin).
With the help of her loving brother Darian, her mother Mona, Mr. Bruner, and Edwin Kim, Nadine is able to make changes for the better and the movie leaves you with that happy-ending, uplifting, cheerful feeling you get from a well-made teen-comedy.
“The Edge of Seventeen,” which will be coming out on Nov. 18, received a 92 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, 8.1 out of 10 on IMDb, and a 76 percent on Metacritic. I absolutely loved this movie; it was hilarious, clever, uplifting, and an all-around great movie. Hailee Steinfeld did an amazing job at playing Nadine Byrd and is a very talented young actor. So my rating is definitely two thumbs up; check it out when it hits theatres!