A few hundred years in the future, after our society burns out like a light-bulb and ultimately reinvents itself into a much kinder experience, there will be those who will study the films of our era and -- it is possible -- these unusual Disney-esque TV treats may just end up being revered in a class (ahem) of their own. Here is the thing. When these high school soap operas work, when the actors and writers are firing on all cylinders, they work really well. I was originally intrigued by a review in a blog which said that this film was so good it could have been shown theatrically. Brave words indeed. The truth is that, until the last 10 mins or so, this is an exceptional work that continually engages and surprises. While the story is not new as such, the actors make it come alive and the director makes it engaging. Sort of --- for those that like to deconstruct film, which is most of us -- a high school Julia Roberts vehicle (if JR had ever done a Disney, which of course she did not). The only flaw is the ending. The story clearly overwhelmed the writers who scrambled against the clock to sort out all the twists and arcs, and it shows. Flawed, but brilliantly so.
-------------Addendum July 17
Because I have been doing a few "Lists" for members, I felt compelled to have a re-watch of this one. Conclusion? Sarah Hyland's amazing performance -- playing two sides of the same coin, as it were, and using her eyes like weapons -- almost but not quite raised this film to greatness. Once again, on second viewing, I saw how rushed the writing team was at the close. It was almost like the studio had given them a checklist of items that had to be covered in the ending and, until that point, they were having too much fun writing the story to care. The ending still sucks. The movie is still much better than the IMDb rating. And Hyland's performance is a joy.
-------------Addendum July 17
Because I have been doing a few "Lists" for members, I felt compelled to have a re-watch of this one. Conclusion? Sarah Hyland's amazing performance -- playing two sides of the same coin, as it were, and using her eyes like weapons -- almost but not quite raised this film to greatness. Once again, on second viewing, I saw how rushed the writing team was at the close. It was almost like the studio had given them a checklist of items that had to be covered in the ending and, until that point, they were having too much fun writing the story to care. The ending still sucks. The movie is still much better than the IMDb rating. And Hyland's performance is a joy.