The First Time

Here's me, thinking I'd have to go through this horrible movie just to see Victoria Justice in it but I was totally wrong. It was quite the opposite actually, I had to go through Victoria Justice so I can watch these interesting characters fall in love.

Yeah, it has its typical teenage moments; parties and stuff but it's a decent love story. Perhaps the movie is too much concentrated on the lead characters but it is forgivable since I enjoyed every moment of them discussing (their) life.

Both of the lead actors are beautiful, charismatic and especially the female lead, interesting personality. She doesn't believe in facebook and twitter and stuff, she wants the old-fashioned way, meeting a boy in a bar or perhaps a dark alley ;)

So they'd see all shades of relationships. The sweet, the precious, the importance of a first, the possibility of better in the future, the not giving up.

While also seeing the bad, the unwanted, the struggle and what you DON'T wanna do.

This movie is great.

"The First Time" is not just about having sex for the first time, but falling in love for the first time, and also just being yourself in front of the object of your affection for the first time. Aubrey (Britt Robertson) has a boyfriend (we'll get to him later) and Dave (Dylan O'Brien) is infatuated with a girl who will probably never like him for who he really is – she's just too into herself for that to ever happen.

At the beginning of the film, Aubrey and Dave meet, they're teenagers who go to different high schools, and their first night together reveals a natural attraction and an easy chemistry that allows them to just open up and talk about whatever they feel like saying. It's a fairly simple film, dialogue-heavy and follows their relationship as all teen romance films do, but there's something about it which suggests it's a genre we haven't really seen before.

"The First Time" isn't a comedy – it's a romantic drama. But it's not heavy and involved like a drama, it's light and funny like a comedy – but in a sweet, charming and real way. The only obvious attempt at comedy is with Aubrey's boyfriend Ronny (James Frecheville). Ronny is one or two years older, this, obviously, makes him wiser, more attuned to the ways of the world, and anybody who isn't him, or who hasn't gone to college, will just never understand the devastations that corporations cause. He likes Aubrey because she's different, she doesn't act all corporation-y.

We like Aubrey because she really isn't all that different. When she's with Dave, she's honest in a way that Dave needs. We like Dave because he convinces himself not to do something stupid, and then proceeds to do something stupid. Just like we all do. And that is why "The First Time" isn't as cheesy as it easily could be. It's a mature film in its depiction of teenagers; it works for adults just as well it does for its teen audience.

Writer and director Jon Kasdan (son of famous filmmaker Lawrence Kasdan) does a good job writing the main characters. The dialogue is a little unnatural at times, and some parts of the story are more drawn out than they need to be, but it's fairly easy to forgive that. The acting is surprisingly good, providing the film with the sweetness and charm that it needs. "The First Time" is a light romantic drama; easy to watch and enjoy, especially for fans of teen romantic comedies of any age.

I go back quite aways to A Summer Place and Parish,yet even as a senior citizen I found The First Time to be a refreshingly honest and well acted film highlighted by the performance of Britt Robertson, a young actress who unfortunately is in the shade of Jennifer Lawrence and Ellen Page...yet I hope she can find he way into the sun because she has a lot to offer.

The film, although light hearted, doesn't deal in mind numbing clichés. It is about the real emotions of modern high school kids, who you realize aren't that much different from the kids of my generation.

It's nice to see a film where kids actually fall deeply for each other rather than just fleeting sexual attraction.

The First Time seems like a film that would be as redundant and as vacuous as the title it boasts, when in retrospect, it's a rather complete film. A very surprising one at that. It's talky, moving at a slowburn pace, which is a blessing, especially in this genre, open to showing human characters function in a strange world, and deep in its focus on two characters that do more than meet-cute - they stay cute. They also make it easy to like them since they're sincere and just as confused as we were as they quickly wander out of adolescence before they even felt like they were in.

The film opens with Dave (Dylan O'Brien), a senior in high school, rehearsing lines in a back alley during a party that he plans to recite to Jane (Nickelodeon's Victoria Justice), a close friend he has big feelings for. He is overheard by Aubrey (Britt Robertson), a Junior in high school, who's friends are the party in the house next door. They have a nice, intimate discussion about relationships and crushes, and Aubrey even gives him some rather harsh constructive criticism on his letter, which she says is rambling and petty and isn't likely to sway her feelings at all. Despite this, Dave continues talking with her and they dance preciously in the alley until the party is raided by police.

They then decide to go to Aubrey's home, where they listen to vinyl, drink wine, and sleep together on the bed innocently enough, despite Aubrey making clear that she has a boyfriend. The next morning, Aubrey, in a freaked-out state-of-mind, forces Dave out the window, reminding herself not only that she has a boyfriend but pretty strict parents as well. This sets up a tone for the weekend.

What follows is Dave's attempts to connect with Aubrey, avoid her preachy and overly-clingy boyfriend Ronny (James Frecheville), and receive advice from his pals Simon (Craig Roberts) and "Big Corporation" (LaMarcus Tinker), all in the span of one weekend. It isn't hard to figure out where this will lead, as the title pretty much blatantly gives it away. This will be the first time both Dave and Aubrey have sex, which they discover isn't as exciting or as easy as they thought; one of the most charming additions to The First Time. The film never leaves the ground of reality, and even during the scenes of the party, never do we feel that director Jon Kasdan is attempting to perpetuate raunchiness between characters or force situations onto them. The dialog (also by Kasdan) remains controlled, yet so alert that you would think it's done in a form of improvisation.

The leads are especially likable, as well, giving the film an elevation in the character-department, which is what many teen comedy-dramas struggle to create. While these characters may be a bit too eclectic and distinctly-drawn for some audience members to connect with, they are nonetheless interesting and made likable by their innocent, judgments, and their chemistry. Dylan O'Brien and Britt Robertson do wonderful work as teens caught up in the mixed-signals and adolescent nature of relationships, crushes, and insecurities. Victoria Justice is a pleasant addition to the cast, but those looking for her as a character worth putting on the poster will be disappointed; she is allotted, maybe, ten minutes of the whole project. But in those ten minutes, she says a few things that give you the indication why this project wasn't backed by Nickelodeon. Regardless, I laud her for trying new territory; sign her up for a Harmony Korine project next.

There are different levels of teen films in 2013. They can excel to nearly unobtainable levels of masterworks like The Breakfast Club or The Perks of Being a Wallflower, steady their sights on competence and energy and be something like Drumline or Little Birds, or could go in the dumpster along with Girl in Progress and the wretched Project X. The First Time may be, at times, predictable, fluffy, and too eclectic for its own good, but it gets by on charm, character-charisma, and slick writing. Unfortunately, it's something that will unfortunately go predominately unseen by teenagers.

Starring: Dylan O'Brien, Britt Robertson, Craig Roberts, Joshua Malina, James Frecheville, Christine Taylor, and Victoria Justice. Directed by: Jon Kasdan.