Love That Boy

I'm still wondering where this little movie came from. A fabulous little picture about a woman obsessed and how she falls in love (something which turns her life upside down). The problem, the boy is 14, she's 21. As messed up as this sounds, this romance didn't look all that strange on screen. Nadia Litz plays the great role of Phoebe, a college student who has great plans for herself and a list of things to do before graduation. Adrien Dixon is great as the 14 year old love interest Frazer, but I think that the rally big steal of this picture is P.J. Crosby playing Bugs, Frazer's little sister. Great characters, filming and acting make this a thoroughly enjoyable picture well worth watching. 9/10

Every once in a while, you come across a film that's just... different. That really makes you feel.

I like schlock movies like most people. I'll watch Bruce Willis shoot everything that moves, and I'll watch pretty much any romantic comedy.

But those kinds of movies are what I watch while I'm waiting for something with real heart. Something that isn't just a stale carbon copy of plots that have been done to death a trillion times.

Love That Boy is that kind of special movie. It starts out with the kind of main character that you just want to slap. And then it takes you with her on an emotional ride that's really worth experiencing.

Movies like this are true in a way that even documentaries rarely are. I'm writing this immediately after watching it, and I'm so overwhelmed that I'm probably not saying everything that I want to.

Do yourself a favor. Watch this movie. Watch it by yourself, if you can. There's too much social pressure in the world to color between the lines that you're really better off watching it that way. But one way or another, watch it. You won't be sorry.

Phoebe (Nadia Litz) is a 21 year old obsessively overachieving student. Her widely divergent interests are in her exceedingly quirky list of things to do before graduation from college. Her overbearing nature drives her one and only friend away. When the friend points out that she has never even had a boyfriend, she promptly puts it on the list. However, she's way too clueless to act like a normal human being. Then he starts talking to the 14 year old neighbor boy hired to mow her lawn. Meanwhile her friend is having a horrible time backpacking with a guy she met on the plane.

It's a quirky girl indie filmed in Halifax, Canada. Nadia Litz has a bit of charm. She's appealing enough to keep the movie interesting. I think they could probably get to the boy part of the movie faster, and get a better boy to play the part. The dialog and interactions between them is kind of stiff and awkward. If there is a good movie in this, it has to come from these two characters. I just don't think they have chemistry. The one notable actor is Ellen Page. She plays a neighbor kid who keeps trying to seduce the boy.

If Kate Hudson or Britanny Murphy played 'Phoebe' and starred in a Blockbuster version of "Love That Boy", then it would totally not compliment my taste in Hollywood sugarcoated flicks. The underrated actors, simplicity and low-budget style aids to the films cuteness and authenticity of what a Canadian director can do to make a low-scale production work, therefore it should stay preserved inside the boundaries of great Canadian film-making and should never be touched again.

Phoebe (Nadia Litz) determines the success of her college life on striving to win the year's "Most Outstanding Student Award". She grounds her priorities on a "to do" list in which she has to accomplish before she graduates. This list isolates Phoebe from her peers and prevents her from experiencing the typical partying life of a college student. Her single and more outgoing roommate, 'Robin' (Nikki Barnett) abandons Pheobe for the road to enlightenment with her new Buddhist friend, 'Kwan' (John Shurko). One of the tasks that Phoebe must do is find a boyfriend. Unexpectadley, Phoebe finds a fourteen year old friend to talk to, 'Frazer' (Adrien Dixon) and forms a deep friendship that is something more than just "hanging out".

Character development was well thought out. The annoyance of Nadia Litz who plays Phoebe was really irritating throughout the beginning of the film. At some certain points in the beginning, I wanted to kick my television set and throw it out the window. However, once she met Frazer she started to grow on me as the scenes progressed---a film never really did that to me before, and I was quite surprised! Usually when a film opens with an annoying character, the character still stays annoying towards the end of it. But Phoebe totally flipped 180. Adrien Dixon who played Frazer wasn't too bad either---it's good that he didn't come across as one of those typical horny teenagers looking for sex. Ahem, American Pie and Girl Next Door anyone?

Above all, one of the main reasons why I enjoyed this film was because I didn't expect much from it before I decided to watch it, however, I was impressed with the overall outcome after wards. Although it didn't have the greatest well-known actors, the best cinematography or screenplay, I saw a lot effort being put into the film. The soundtrack was great too.

Overall, 7/10

You wouldn't think that a movie in which an adult woman and a teenage boy flirt with romance could be described as sweet but sweet is exactly what this movie is.

Phoebe (Nadia Litz, whose baby face helps to undercut the creepiness of the tale), is about to graduate university (which would make her roughly 21). She's a total type A, obsessing over making valedictorian, piling on extra curriculars and emotionally suffocating her roommate and best friend (only friend) Robin. Eventually Robin cracks under the pressure of being Phoebe's best friend and plus one to everything. She tells Phoebe off, mentioning in a list of complaints that, among other things, Phoebe has never had a boyfriend. Phoebe is embarrassed but also decides to approach this as an unsocialized type-A would and adds getting a boyfriend to her list of things to do. After a date goes wrong she ends up hanging out with Frazer (Adrien Dixon) her 14 year old neighbour who she pays to mow her lawn. Frazer is actually impressed by Phoebe's knowledge and the two end up growing closer and closer.

The film definitely toes the line about coming across as icky, but Dorfman and her co-writer Jennifer Deyell handle the material well and keep it just innocent enough and just awkward enough so that it never crosses over into full on creepiness.

It's also a super low-budget film but this somehow adds to the cartoonishness and sweetness of the movie.