It's 1980 something in a small town in Ohio when A+ student Natalie (Jennifer Connelly) is home alone while her father is away for a business trip. Meanwhile her longtime friend Jeff ( Byron Thames) gets in another fight with his stepdad and retreats to Natalie's house where they live together. And oh yeah there Polly (Maddie Corman) who is Natalie's boy obsessed best friend who she has a crush on Casey who starts dating Natalie but she quickly forgets about him when she meets pro baseball player Zoo Knudson and pretends to be 18 to try to get in his pants.
I went into this movie knowing nothing so I can't say I was disappointed. Jennifer Connelly and Byron Thames have great chemistry together and play off each other very well. However. Maddie Corman as Polly isn't as great Connelly and Thames but you still get why she, Jeff and Natalie are friends. And her subplot is easily the weakest part of the movie, it's very uninteresting when the movie cuts away from Natalie and Jeff. Also when Polly goes to New York in hoping to meet Zoo she gets kicked out of the stadium and stays with this photographer who tells Polly what it's like to orgasm with a girl and he even kisses her. I get what they were going for in that Polly finally learns that looks aren't everything in a guy but it's just so weird and uncomfortable.
Natalie seems to have an estranged relationship with her dad which was probably caused by her father always being at work and he mother dying when Natalie was young which leads to why her character is so uptight and closed off from people who aren't Jeff and Polly until she meets Casey who is a friend of Jeffs and they start going out. Natalie seems to be a bit uncomfortable with Casey as when Casey obviously tries to have sex with her, but Natalie rejects him. Natalie's main conflict in the story is with the Polly when Polly goes to Natalie's house to see Casey's car outside and Jeff sleeping outside to give Natalie and Casey some privacy and then incorrectly assuming that Casey and Natalie are having sex. Polly at the same time being very mad the Zoo gave her a generic fan-response letter and being jealous that Natalie "isn't a virgin anymore", she begins to resent Natalie and telling Natalie to leave her house when Natalie tells Polly that she gets into stuff too much. During a fire drill Polly calls out to Jeff within hearing distance of Natalie that After that Casey is flirting with Lisa. When Casey admits to seeing Lisa the whole time during their relationship she is heart broken and mad at Jeff for knowing and not telling her about it. But Jeff and Natalie make it up almost immediately after. Natalie then wins a writing competition and goes to Washington DC and meets a White House aid. Natalie going to DC feels very pointless in that it's only in the story to give more time to Polly's subplot in New York. Natalie through out the movie seems to be very uncomfortable with intimacy. It's a good message to that it's okay to reject a kiss or to not have sex.
Jeff is the best of the 3, he's charismatic charming and funny. Jeffs resents his mother for marrying his step-father who is really hard on him because he thinks his way of life is the best life for Jeff but Jeff refuses to do so and always gets into fights with his step-dad. His arc with his step-father seems to be concluded very quickly when in the final scene Jeff is seen playing basketball with his step-dad. I guess you could say Jeffs step-dad felt bad about being so hard on him when they fight in the car but he seemed kind of pissed off that Jeff won't cooperate with him, but it is still sweet to see Jeff get along with his step-father. Also according to the trailer, Jeff likes Polly but I never got the sense of that. I just thought he was just goofing around with her like he does with Natalie. But then again he does almost have sex with her which was also odd to watch because they're minors in the story.
Even though there are flaws in the story I still like this movie very much. The characters are likeable except for Polly when she is begins to think that she is entitled to something like when she gets mad at Natalie for not telling her that she "lost her virginity" but your supposed to not like her in those moments or when Zoo sends her a typed fan-response letter. But you're supposed to dislike her in those moments. This movie was a fun experience and I know that the 5/10 rating may seem low but there's alot of odd scenes, mostly with Polly but there is fun in this movie.
