I'm not familiar with Emma Roberts. But I thought she was quite effective here. I totally bought her rendition of a clueless college kid with lots of "feelings."
It was a tad depressing to see a depiction of another brainless kid with massive college loan debt and no knowledge of anything under the sun. Why do parents buy into that scam. At least here the parents try to point out the danger of her absurd and spoiled pursuit. But of course they coddled her and bankrolled it for years.
The other silly notion that liberal arts grads. carry around is that they were all meant to do something unique and special. Cusack's character has some of the best lines in the movie when he reminds her that not everyone is talented or destined for greatness.
Congratulations to the writers for also having the young male lead remind our girl that she was a worthless, lazy employee and an elitist. With the help of these good friends, she manages to learn something.
We later learn that the young male lead has his own hobbies and passions which this self-absorbed pixie never bothered to inquire about. But it was refreshing that she was a virgin and that the young man took time to really get to know her.
I also appreciate the Syracuse in Winter setting. Like I've said in other reviews, not every movie has to take place in some glamorous mainstream city. There are plenty of human stories taking shape in gray places that no one would otherwise think about if they weren't the setting in a movie.
There's not much memorable music here, which is fine, because it was a dialogue and character-driven half-comedy. I don't need Indie mood music for such a film.
There are no sexy scenes worth mentioning by the way. Roberts goes without makeup and our old mentor played by Cusack is refreshingly not a "perv."
