Kids in Love

What better contrast to those urban gritty dramas about young Londoners set in the tower blocks than Kids in Love which is about posh young Londoners living in Notting Hill or similar.

Will Poulter plays college student Jack taking a gap year, do some work and earn money to travel to south America with his friends.

Like a lot of teenagers he is unsure of what he wants to do with his life but he certainly does not want to do an internship in a law firm that his father has arranged.

What he does engage in is a bohemian lifestyle partying in London, taking drugs and having sex and falling out with his friends, because now he does not want to go travelling. This turn of events is caused by meeting French free spirited artist Evelyn (Alma Jodorowsky) who lives in a rundown Hackney townhouse with other alternative arty types such as Viola (Cara Delevingne) and Evelyn also has an on/off boyfriend who also might be a drug dealer.

Refreshing as it might be to see a different perspective of Londoners (the white middle class type.) There is little drama and little that happens in this coming of age tale where Jack's loyalties with his friends are tested. A good natural performance from Will Poulter is the only recommendation in this empty story.

The movie is an interesting take on the coming of age novel. It is a bit too hard to relate to but still a great debut for the co writers. One of the co writers, Preston Thompson, who was only 18 and had never studied film, also did a great job in his acting debut in this film. The only major drawback is the completely unnecessary nudity in the sex scene.

I watched this because I am big fan of Will Poulter, an extremely naturally gifted actor & he so he is here but struggles with the material he is given.

Poulter plays Jack, born of middle class Nottinghill parents who plan for him to take an internship with a friends law firm as soon as he is back from taking a gap year of travelling with his friend Tom. Jack meets Evelyn, a French girl visiting London, whom for reasons unknown strings Jack along even though she has an on/off boyfriend who can only be some sort of pimp / drug dealer though what he does is never clearly explained. Through meeting her he goes clubbing to secret hedonistic places where young posh kids go, who don't work, have threesomes and do drugs. It's all very pastel colours and warm tones. Jack has an interest in old school photography, befriends some sisters who seem to own a 'come and go as you please' mansion while their parents are away and meets an assortment of odd other characters. Some arguments are had and some friendships are tested and that's about it really. The script is almost entirely devoid of any real drama save for a couple of heated rows with the parents and his best friend. Coming of age dramas and films about first young loves can be engaging but sadly this film isn't in that category. It's only real saving grace is Poulter who plays the stumbling Jack with an appropriate level of blind confusion. Adequate casting in terms of the parents is provided by stalwart actors such as Pip Torrens and Geraldine Sommerville, but the rest of the cast find it hard to make their mark. The script lacked any real characterisation (Perhaps these kids are just that bland, and that was the point?) and I just really wasn't interested in the petty dilemmas of these spoilt rich kids. At the end of the films running time I felt I barely knew any of the characters any better than I did when the film had started apart from Jack, whose own journey seems to have taken him no where. Perhaps that was the point of the story, that they were all so vacuous that Jack was better off where he had started, than with meeting them at all. Be that as it may, it did make the film somewhat pointless.

It says much about a film where the most memorable moment is a scene with a guy who sits on the sofa and says nothing.

This is not a real review, it should be understood more as a collection of impressions on the film.

This film is terribly underrated because it is a classic romantic comedy for teenagers and in this it works very well. I really don't understand the low rating because the film is very entertaining from many points of view, the acting is really good and the plot, although banal, is really very well written and for a romantic film for young people it is really very beautiful. So let's say that it's true the film is banal and to enjoy it you have to overcome some gaps in logic, but apart from this the film personally seemed really extremely valid to me.

Coming-of-age romance-drama from Britain. Low budget film that was shot a couple of years ago, but saw a delayed release. Everybody knows Will Poulter from 'Narnia' and apart from that he had done a good number of big films, but most of them are side roles. This is his film, the story was told from his character.

The story of a teen boy who always been a good boy, but now after meeting a girl on the street, decides to explore the life on the crazy side. It was the affection on her that changed his path. His expectation was to make her fall in love with him back, but it was a complicated environment. What are all his options, and his attempts that leads to the story's end.

Totally refreshing cast. It was Will Poulter's film, but if you see the film poster it was Cara Delevingne in the front with a big pose who has only a small part in the story. But the reason was, her face, the most marketable among others in the film. The film was not that good, though a decent one.

The story perspective and purpose was good, but a little slow, even for a shorter than 90 minute film. The French actress, Alma was good. I liked some of the film scenes, not the overall film. But a nice effort, only if it was set in Brasil, particularly that carnival scene, it would have been a very cheerful flick.

5/10