If you know me at all, you know that movie review phrases like "heartfelt coming-of-age story" and "bittersweet adolescence" are enough to make me gag. For me to see a movie thus described, not happening.
But when Rotten Tomatoes has a 100% rating on the Tomatometer, well, I have to think it might be worth seeing. If even the most cynical critic out there liked it, maybe I will as well.
And I did! "Lady Bird" is sweet and funny and sad and smart, but it's a lot more than that. It's not a Great film but it's a Very Good movie. Somehow it captures all the awkward, angry, emotionally unbalanced nuances of adolescence and presents them in a way that doesn't make you cringe or gag.
To be happy or to be popular? To skip school or be good and go to class? To do what your parents want or to defy them? To have sex or not? What does it all mean? Why bother?
See this movie if you can and if you don't walk out of the theater with a wistful smile on your face, then you are beyond redemption. Great script, simple story, excellent acting. Even when you want to slap one of the characters, you want to hug them at the same time. Laurie Metcalf and Saoirse Ronan are perfectly cast as mom and daughter, the movie is set in Sacramento ("...the midwest of California") and entire package is lovely.
Two thumbs up!
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