TamPalm

I'm late to this show, currently binging it from Amazon Prime and have made it almost through season two. I don't think I can finish it.

It started promising. The backstory introduced early in season one was an interesting one. The characters were sympathetic and left you wanting to know more. The writing was clever and witty. As the season wore on, though, the cracks started showing.

At this point in my viewing, I find myself fast-forwarding through most of it. Every few minutes is a screaming session. There seems to have been a fighting quota the writers were trying to meet. I've never seen a show in which there's an argument in virtually every scene, one after the other.

And most of the scenes involve kids yelling at or smart-mouthing adults. The cliche writing of the spoiled teenager archetype is so exaggerated you start to wonder if the writers decided to turn this into a comedy. These aren't characters anymore; they're caricatures. And as the show goes on, it feels more and more unserious.

Offhand, I can't think of a show that had more frustrating character interactions. A constant stream of negativity; every scene contentious. The characters' constant misery starts to weigh on you as a viewer. It's just all too much.

Started out promising, quickly descended into a train wreck. Not sure yet if it's the kind of train wreck you can't stop watching or the kind you can't wait to get away from.

.

This is a feel-good movie with a throwback feel, one in which the writers aren't trying to shock or offend you, or bombard you with whatever the latest work lesson is from the perpetually-offended or pretend-to-be offended calvary.

This movie is the rare family-friendly movie that will appeal to most ages regardless of background or culture. It employs universal themes of self love, childhood crushes, second chances, finding hope again, etc. It just gives you that tingly feeling in your stomach, the kind that makes you glad or at least not perturbed that you spent a couple hours watching this random flick.

Recommended for anyone who just wants an easy, feel-good experience. I think the movie did what it set out to do, nothing more, nothing less.