El Arte de Vivir

The teenage rebel, full of angst, and feeling alienated through their own defeatist philosophies, once perfected in Holden Caulfield, is on display here again in George (Freddie Highmore). He has the typical advanced vocabulary and expected intellect, but boredom for school and life. "What's the point if you're just going to die alone?"

"The Art of Getting By" tried to straddle the line between drama and comedy. Expecting us to laugh at George's despondency but then expecting us to feel for his life's difficulties. Although both comedic and dramatic elements were present, it was missing a touch of realism to help build the connection for the audience.

Is it about getting the girl, finding your path in life, or just graduating high school? Of course it's about all of that, but at times it seemed to be about none of that. Its aimlessness in telling me what the point of it all was, seemed a little juvenile. It's a teen coming-of-age film, probably meant for the twenty-something crowd, but missing any greater meaning to fulfill its audience.

It's the type of story that gets told frequently, but it also needs to be told frequently. It can get old quickly if you've seen better versions, and I, unfortunately, have seen better versions. I love Highmore and Emma Roberts, and this is exactly the type of roles they need to launch their adult career. I was impressed with Michael Angarano playing the older, if not any more mature, slacker artist who could have easily disappeared into adolescent oblivion, but instead found some meat in his role and really stood out.

"The Art of Getting By" desperately needs the love it received from Sundance, because it's not going to get much of anything else. Which is a shame because it's not a bad movie but I don't think the filmmakers ever found the point they wanted to make.

Most movies you only really watch once, unless its like American Beauty or Superbad, where it takes a fair few watches to get old. Without a doubt this movie is great, the character 'George' is one of those characters in a film who's name you search afterwards to find other movies with they've featured in, as he plays the role of a; confused, troubled, intelligent, different teenager who most could relate to at that age. If you want a movie that makes you think afterwards and can relate to, then I'd say watch it. It's great for a night in, but I'd say the downfalls is the fact that yet again like most of these types of films is predictable, but other than that I'd say the acting is great and its enjoyable to say the least.

This is one of those movies that starts out well but seems to disappoint in the end.

It's beautifully shot and edited, and we see many fine performances. I found Emma Roberts particularly appealing, as she has a dour, come-hither look in her dark eyes about 95% of the time. What Ingrid Bergman could achieve by looking down, Roberts does by looking almost right at us.

Freddie Highmore looks and feels authentic. His character has a lot of choices to make, many of which go against all common sense. But although he drives us crazy, he's intriguing and we want to know what's to happen to him.

Mid-movie, the characters are hit with several crises, and it gets interesting as we wonder how they'll resolve them. When resolution strikes, though, it's so conventional that it's disappointing. The expected is unexpected.

Yup, it has indie-feel and Sundance all over it. But I was hoping for a big surprise at the end from these flawed but good people; instead, they seemed to abandon what they had stood for. And what may have qualified as a surprise involving Roberts was simply unbelievable and too convenient to accept. Though I was happy for them, a simple, happy ending didn't feel right with these non-simple characters.

But then, maybe, that was the point.

This was one of those understated-on-purpose films which I normally adore: except I didn't. There has to be some type of excellence in these little indies which invite a second look -- great acting, original concepts, exceptional dialog, beautiful art direction, etc. -- but in this case, none of the above applies. The Art of Getting By lives up to its name by just scraping by on its formulaic mediocrity in every category.

Freddy Highmore and Emma Roberts play high school students in the city, from different from different social classes even though they both go to an expensive private school. George (Highmore) also happens to be a loner/misfit who has a bad case of that teen angst we all can recognize: everything's pointless, why bother doing homework, we're all going to die anyway, yadda yadda. He's got all his justifications figured out, and then one day he develops a hard crush on Sally (Roberts), and suddenly sees that there may be a point to things after all. But of course there are personal problems and home life to drive a wedge between their budding maybe/sorta romance, including George's inability to express his feelings in any way except through his art. So the stereotype of the misunderstood loner/misfit is carried through quite predictably, exactly as we have all seen it in two dozen other films about teenagers.

Highmore and Roberts are good-looking and competent actors, judging by what I've seen of their work elsewhere. Here, however, they fizzle. There is simply no chemistry between their characters. Roberts may be able to get by on her stunning good looks, but lip-twisting and -twitching do not a convincing actress make; she merely sleepwalks through her lines. We the audience are never shown what it is about her (other than striking eyes) which attracts George. George does have a few moments of good dialog which could have been gold in the hands of a motivated actor, but the constant wooden expressions on his face undermine them; he is blank even when tears are running down his cheeks. How the heck are we supposed to care about his personal crisis? I will say in its favor that TAOGB does have some standout minor characters; the adults in George's life which, for the most part, are well-acted. I especially liked his art teacher's over-the-top intensity. George's mom is also wonderfully cast for the role of a tired woman just trying to hold her family together. And what's up with Alicia Silverstone as a frumpy schoolmarm?!?..but it works, oddly enough.

So in short, TAOGB wasn't a disaster, but I just can't see anybody citing it for outstanding, well, *anything* in the years to come.

I loved this movie. Remined me of when I was in high school, by the way Im only 20 yrs old. Rmeinded me of the people I dealt in high school, teachers, not having a lot of friends, girls I met over time.

Here is a short summary of the movie George played by Freddie Highmore, is a senior in high school who narrates throughout the movie, is does not do his homework or listen in class instead he draws sketches and doodles. After a few days George meets this girl Sally played by Emma Roberts who becomes friends with him and falls in love with him, well George doesn't know what to feel and ends up losing her, he get a last chance to complete all his work for a whole yearn in order to graduate high school given to him by his principal. George lives with his mom and stepdad who lost his job and is leaving them. Towards the end of the movie George has to complete an art project, one project of the whole year in order to graduate and ends up painting an awesome portrait.

Great artistic drama with some comedy scenes that will make you laugh, because they remind you of when you were young and in school. Great cast. Especially Emma Roberts and Freddie Highmore, the two main people in the film.

I recommend this movie for people who love art, who likes romantic/drama films, and everyone else.

I bummed it did not make its way to theaters and got only a release at the Sundance Film Festival and on DVD and bluray. This movie could of done very well at the box office.

I give it 7 out of 10 stars, for its great cast, great plot and great story.