As Cool as I Am

On the surface this seems like a simple, predictable film. It doesn't have a grand storyline nor does the plot build up to a single defining moment.

Essentially, this is a film about flawed characters who make flawed choices. They don't always say the right thing or solve all of their problems. They are simply human.

Danes is wonderful as the now 'grown up' teen mother, struggling with her own identity crisis as her daughter - the same age as her mother was when she was born - is too exploring her sexuality and considering her future. Bolger plays the role with enough restraint to avoid the teenager stereotype, whilst Marsden, although his scenes are brief, is so believable as the absent father.

I can see where this film could be seen as shallow and it's true that there are a few stronger issues that are touched on but not really developed (consent, domestic violence to name a few). However, in a way I appreciated how the plot continued on without delving into the complexities and our characters continued to make the impulsive and flawed decisions that make them as human and realistic as you or me - shaped by these things that have happened to them, but not defined.

7.1 of 10. As teen girl films go this year, I prefer The Truth About Emanuel (2013). By comparison, this is clearly an attempt to do another teen girl perspective film. In many ways, it succeeds in addressing important issues while still creating something amusing and sexy teens can relate to. Unfortunately, it tries to do too much and cover too much ground.

One of the many good artistic things it does that is often failed in other films is having the lead character speak in the background for added context. Here, it's done the way it should be, like hearing the character's thoughts and not trying to use it to tell the story.

Some other films this reminds me of and those who enjoy this (or those) will enjoy: Drool (2009), Rocket Science (2007), Snow Angels (2007), Lars and the Real Girl (2007), Teeth (2007), Poker House (2008), Precious (2009), and Kids (1995).

Firstly, I need to say that I enjoyed this film, I did. It held my attention and I felt satisfied afterward. Yes, it was mildly predictable in places but not annoyingly so.

What did frustrate me though was the lack of depth. A couple of other reviewers mentioned this so I'm glad I'm not alone: There were so many issues that I thought were going to be explored further and just.... weren't. Even the ending, although mildly cathartic, left me with unanswered questions.

Still, taken at face value, the film was... nice.

Hmm... I'm realizing this review is a bit 'meah'; not really negative, not really positive, but that's a direct reflection of the film's content, so sorry!

As Cool as I Am isn't really a gripping film, and will likely be far away from my favorites of the year, but in terms of trying to revitalize the coming-of-age drama with a delightfully contemporary idea and script is succeeds solely on that merit. It concerns Lucy (Sarah Bolger), a well-mannered fourteen year old who has a lumberjack father Chuck (James Marsden) who is away for long periods of time due to work and her mother Lainee (Claire Danes), who might as well be her age thanks to her attitude and approach to reality. Lucy always had the idea that her family was "stable" in that they functioned like a normal family. However, as she gets older, she realizes her family is a "real" one, with problems and conflicts that are usually not instantly noticed by kids. This whole idea of "stable" and "real" families is discussed in the opening monologue, pretty much admitting the film will not be a narrow look at this common issue that is quickly growing.

That issue is having a child at a young age. Chuck and Lainee had Lucy when they were both seventeen, making them not much older than her in retrospect, leaving most of their decisions to be rather impulsive and quite questionable. For such a contemporary issue - having children and kids young and, often, out of wedlock - this one is scarcely brought up and thrown into public eye. Director Max Mayer, of the 2009 sleeper-hit Adam, brings a mature and focused look to the subject by allowing each character some expression and a moment when their personality comes out.

Lucy is already becoming a young woman, and with an unstable family life and an absent father, this leads her on a path she wouldn't normally take. She becomes more flirtatious, acts differently around her guy friends, and on several occasions almost consents to sex. This plot alone wages the question "are teens more likely to become rebellious if they do not have both parents playing a significant role in their life?" When her father returns home, and realizes that Lucy has, for one, driven the car unsupervised after her mother arrives at an interview, and has gone on to kiss several different boys, he becomes mad and very violent out of nowhere. That's his moment to shine; would his anger be so prominent and consuming if he had been home consistently? The only other main character is the mother, whose reckless behavior is almost as bad as her husband's absence. She becomes flirtatious at the office, even so far as to have sex with a co-worker not long after beginning to work there. After finding this out, Lucy can use this as bait to justify her actions rather than be awkwardly silent when he mother ridicules her for her behavior. The character's actions are one big, tangled cycle that only fuel and unintentionally elaborate on each others decisions.

As Cool as I Am asks a lot of questions and, in the end, quietly leaves the audience with deteriorating optimism that maybe Lucy will end up unsatisfied later in life, and at only fourteen, this idea likely hasn't crossed her mind. Writer Virginia Korus Spragg does a smooth job at developing the characters on the surface and subtly evoking commentary on the new generation of kids, many of whom likely to be raised by a more uncertain, rushed generation of people. I see another cycle coming along.

Starring: Claire Danes, James Marsden, and Sarah Bolger, and Jon Tenney. Directed by: Max Mayer.

The story unfolds about a family living in suburbs of a major town in United States, having husband and wife and their daughter. Father being a lumberjack stays away from home for the majority of the time. He is from the old school and thinks that family is a bond which should remain intact at all times whatever the circumstances may be. The mother who works at a local advertising agency is often dressed up way too bold unlike a mother has to be dressed. The daughter is free bird who has a boy friend since her childhood and she remained focuses on him. During the time the father is at home everybody restricts their normal routine and stay close to him and once he leaves for his job they return to their normal lives. The mother who got married at an early age still thinks that she is a unmarried woman and likes to screwed around to her follow employee's, and she dressed up in a fashion that she is a teenager which she is not supposed to do. The daughter in the later part of the movie started changing her boy friend and started to screw around like her mother. The father one day caught the daughter while she was making love to his boy friend tries to hit her boy friend who in fact was a strong guy over powered the father and hit him. The daughter tries to console dad who slap her on her face and left back to work as an escape route. The mother found her college boy friend and ran away with him to Mexico. The daughter joins a café and started showing cooking lessons. Till now! It was about the movie and their role the actors played but in real life in Pakistan, it does not hold true as depicted in the movie. The bond of family is not so weak that if husband is working in some other city or he is working late it means that the wife should start acting like a prostitute and should be screwing and flirting around and the daughter is screwing entire class for that matter. Though the acting and setting was perfect and I gave this movie 9 out of 10.