Director: Naomi Foner
Writer: Naomi Foner (Screenplay)
Starring: Dakota Fanning, Elizabeth Olsen, Boyd Holbrook, Ellen Barkin, Demi Moore, Richard Dreyfuss, Peter Sarsgaard
Plot: Two New York City girls make a pact to lose their virginity during their first summer out of high school. When they both fall for the same street artist, the friends find their connection tested for the first time.
Tagline – When we lose our innocence, we have to find ourselves.
Runtime: 1 Hour 31 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Simple Romance Between Friends
Story: Very Good Girls starts as we met two teenagers Lilly (Fanning) and Gerri (Olsen) who are spending the final summer together before they move onto college. With life problems they are facing they do have each other to keep themselves together and make a pact to lose their virginity before they head off to college.
The two friends both fall for the same street artist David (Holbrook) ad between them they both get a different life change experience through the summer.
Thoughts on Very Good Girls
Characters – Lilly is the quieter of the two friends, we follow her life with her parents fighting, her job before college and what it was like for her to meet her first love before college, she is trying to hold her family together while not telling Gerri al the details of her life. Gerri is the best friend of Lilly, she tends to do all the talking for the two, she wants David but this summer she must deal with her own personal tragedy. David is the street artist that both the girls fall for, he fits the mysterious figure that can draw the attention of the girls. We do have the parents through the situations the girls are going through too.
Performances – Dakota Fanning is solid enough for this role, she doesn’t do anything wrong, but compared to Olsen for age, there are little elements that show her lack of life experience for this film. Olsen is good she is showing us just capable of filling almost any role in a film here. Boyd Holbrook is good even if he does feel slightly too old for this role which sums up the weakness to a lot of the performances, the age of the leading three is too wide with them meant to be around the same age.
Story – The story here gives us a coming of age tale between the two friends in their final summer before going of to college. The story does touch on real life situations which could need a best friend to be by your side. We get to see how love can push the boundaries of friendships and how hard life can be when you start to realize that college is the next chapter of life that will big the biggest step you will take and nothing will truly prepare you for it.
Romance – The romance in the film shows us how two friends can have their friendship pushed to the limits when they both fall for the same boy.
Settings – New York is a setting that I will always praise for the quality for any setting in the story of growing up, finding yourself.
Scene of the Movie – The photo.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – The two girls don’t seem to have any other friends.
Final Thoughts – This is a simple coming of age movie, it fits the check list well, has good acting but by the ending you will feel we needed that one more spark.
Overall: Simple Coming of Age
Rating
