Freshman Year – The True College Experience
Director: Cooper Raiff
Writer: Cooper Raiff (Screenplay)
Starring: Cooper Raiff, Dylan Gelula, Amy Landecker, Logan Miller, Olivia Welch, Abby Quinn, Joy Sunday
Plot: A lonely college freshman forges a strong connection with his resident assistant during a fraternity party.
Tagline – College stinks
Runtime: 1 Hour 40 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Freshman Year starts as we meet freshman year student Alex Malmquist (Raiff) finds himself struggling to fit in, finding himself alone most nights, not enjoying the college party scene. Alex ends up meeting one of the resident assistant Maggie Hill (Gelula) who he spends the night with, traveling with around the city, where Alex looks to learn more about himself and the difficulties with the college experience.
Thoughts on Freshman Year
Characters & Performances – Alex is a freshman at college that has struggled to find his place there, not making any new friends, not getting along with his roommate and not enjoying the party scenes. He tries to make new friends at a party, only to find himself spending the night with a young woman, opening up for the first time in his time at college. Alex is a character that is raw and emotional, showing just how difficult the first few weeks and months, can be the most difficult for anyone. Cooper Raiff stars, writes and directs this movie, which does feel like it is a very personal story about his own struggles with college, showing the vulnerable side to his character in the film. Maggie is the resident assistant that meets Alex after her own slow night, spending the time with him, learning about a stranger, helping him learn more about the college experience. Dylan Gelula does have great chemistry with Cooper, which is the most important part of the leading roles in this film. The supporting cast are strong, but most are the people that Alex is trying to get close to in college, or his mom back home, the one person he knows he has for support.
Story – The story here does follow a freshman year student that has struggle to connect to the college world, failing to make friends or enjoy the party scenes. He will find someone who helps him learn about the experience, giving him a chance to enjoy it, through a new friendship, teaching him to relax and learn to enjoy meeting new people. This is a story that mostly revolves around one main night of a conversation, which is more about learning to open up to a stranger. This is a story that does feel very personal from the director, as most of the conversation does show us how fitting can be difficult for anyone in life, when stepping into a new environment. This is a story that has a slower paced, that isn’t about the wild parties, more about just learning to meet new people in life.
Themes – Freshman Year is a comedy romance drama that shows that people can meet people out of nowhere and find a connection through honesty and laughs along the way. The film is set in and around the college campus, showing us that people could meet people to help them find the best places.
Final Thoughts – Freshman Year is a great conversation based movie, showing the true difficulties of college life.
