![]() ![]() She doesn’t seem interested in making us like this girl who’s perched on the edge of womanhood. ![]() Steinfeld makes this intriguing jumble of contradictions feel real and alive. She can be mean and impulsive and she’s often the victim of her own undoing. She’s capable of laughing at herself for her frequent follies, but her default mode is misanthropy, and she doesn’t suffer fools. Similarly, much of what makes Nadine so compelling is that fact that she isn’t always nice. She doesn’t necessarily wrap everything up in a way that’s tidy and pleasing. Much of “The Edge of Seventeen” is zippy and zingy, but Craig seems just as comfortable taking the story into sadder, more honest directions. And the melancholy tone Craig ultimately sets for this section of Nadine’s misadventures is another great example of the risks she’s prepared to take. One of Craig’s many clever touches: The first time Nadine works up the nerve to talk to Nick, Spandau Ballet’s “True” queues up in the background in what has to be an homage to “Sixteen Candles.” Even the trying-on-clothes montage in preparation for her big night with Nick takes place through a different prism than you might expect. (“God, juvie made him so hot,” she comments longingly toward the film’s start.) Since it’s 2016, Nadine’s love note takes the form of a Facebook message to a good-looking bad boy named Nick ( Alexander Calvert). This leads to another staple of the genre: the accidental sending of a massively embarrassing missive. But she also acts out, trying in vain to recoup some sense of self. She tries going along with it at first, joining Darian and Krista at the kind of raging party that only takes place in teen movies. Nadine’s whole world, precarious as it already was, comes crashing down when her best friend hooks up with her brother after a long night of drinking-and then starts dating him seriously. Just try watching Long Duk Dong’s wacky shtick in “ Sixteen Candles” now without cringing. And in creating an Asian character who emerges as both a hero and a heartthrob by the film’s end, Craig rights some of the late Hughes’ wrongs, particularly when it came to broad, ethnic caricatures. Szeto is a tremendous find: cute and charismatic, he benefits greatly from Craig’s willingness to defy expectations about high school types. Her other unlikely ally is the sweet, smart Erwin ( Hayden Szeto), the slightly nerdy but deeply decent classmate who harbors a not-so-secret crush on her. The snappy rapport between Steinfeld and Harrelson make these scenes some of the film’s best. On the contrary, he actually seems to enjoy their little lunchtime spats. Bruner (a wonderfully understated Woody Harrelson), who dishes it out as well as he takes it and seems undaunted by her insubordination. She finds a worthy sparring partner for her lacerating wit in her history teacher, Mr. Her widowed mother, Mona ( Kyra Sedgwick), works hard to support the family as a frazzled, single mom.Įvery day is miserable for Nadine, as you can imagine it must be when hormones and immaturity won’t allow you to enjoy being the smartest person in the room. Her older brother, Darian ( Blake Jenner, so likable as the wide-eyed, freshman baseball player in “Everybody Wants Some!!”), is the golden boy who can do no wrong. Her one and only friend since childhood is the perky and slightly better-adjusted Krista ( Haley Lu Richardson). An Oscar nominee for the Coen brothers’ 2010 version of “True Grit” and a pop star on the rise, Steinfeld further reveals her versatility as a whip-smart yet socially moronic teenager named Nadine. Primarily, though, “The Edge of Seventeen” is a delight, with Hailee Steinfeld serving as the radiant star at its center.
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