**** SPOILERS CONTAINED HEREIN ***
There were a lot of things I liked about this movie: the humour and the characters, but it was basically Thora Birch that carried it - the character of Enid was terrific, reminding me a lot of Daria (who I also like).
The movie itself reminded me of "The Graduate", with the main point being the search by the main character for a direction in life, and the final scene being a bus-ride out of town. The interest was held by wondering what Enid WOULD ACTUALLY DO, as she didn't seem to like any of her options.
It fell down in a number of ways though: I really disliked the 2-dimensional way in which the character of Enid's father was treated - it seemed like a really cynical way of ruling out the "family" option. The ending was a complete cop-out - her simply skipping town on a bus is NOT A CHOICE. Even the people who like the movie don't like the ending, and have come up with various "mystical" or suicidal interpretations to excuse it.
The main problem is that there is a PERFECTLY OBVIOUS solution to Enid's "problems", which is that she should GO TO COLLEGE. She would have another few years to grow up and develop proper social skills. This is what college is for. At least in "The Graduate" Dustin Hoffman was a COLLEGE graduate, so his struggles were more grounded in adult sensitivities.
Anyway, I think I'm making this sound worse than it was. I did really like it for the most part, but felt that it lost it's way a little, and ended badly. 7/10.
There were a lot of things I liked about this movie: the humour and the characters, but it was basically Thora Birch that carried it - the character of Enid was terrific, reminding me a lot of Daria (who I also like).
The movie itself reminded me of "The Graduate", with the main point being the search by the main character for a direction in life, and the final scene being a bus-ride out of town. The interest was held by wondering what Enid WOULD ACTUALLY DO, as she didn't seem to like any of her options.
It fell down in a number of ways though: I really disliked the 2-dimensional way in which the character of Enid's father was treated - it seemed like a really cynical way of ruling out the "family" option. The ending was a complete cop-out - her simply skipping town on a bus is NOT A CHOICE. Even the people who like the movie don't like the ending, and have come up with various "mystical" or suicidal interpretations to excuse it.
The main problem is that there is a PERFECTLY OBVIOUS solution to Enid's "problems", which is that she should GO TO COLLEGE. She would have another few years to grow up and develop proper social skills. This is what college is for. At least in "The Graduate" Dustin Hoffman was a COLLEGE graduate, so his struggles were more grounded in adult sensitivities.
Anyway, I think I'm making this sound worse than it was. I did really like it for the most part, but felt that it lost it's way a little, and ended badly. 7/10.