... and begs the question, why DO we sentence people to community service? I understand the intention - to get someone out of themselves by serving the community, but don't the poor, the sick, and the elderly deserve better than people who are being forced to care? But I digress. And why I even brought this up will become clearer - maybe - further on in the review.
This is one of those 'little indie'movies that make the film festival rounds, and usually gets lost in the shadow of Hollywood blockbusters..but this one's worth a watch. Irene, played by Michelle McLeod, is an overweight teen who talks to/with a poster of Geena Davis.. Davis gives her motivational direction..and considering she's not even in the movie, Davis gets some great lines. Irene is forbidden internet access, cell phones and TV by a mother who thinks sheltering her will spare her the bullying of the real world. Mom (Anastasia Phillips) was a popular high school cheerleader, whose teen pregnancy re-wrote her future..she vacillates between smothering her daughter and being brutally honest about how 'fat girls' are perceived in today's culture.
Irene is determined to become a cheerleader too, which makes her a laughing stock at school and the butt of a cruel practical joke that lands her, and two of the instigators, on suspension and assigned to work at the retirement home next door to the school. The characters in the home are no-nonsense real..no sweet little old grandmas here--and the performances of the three seniors closest to Irene (Bruce Gray, Joan Gregson and Deborah Grover) are honest and quirky. Scott Thompsn plays the home's director who will ignore most things just to keep his job, Andy Reid plays the non-comformist of questionable gender, and Aviva Mongillo is the epitome of the stereotypical 'mean girl'. All turn in laudable performances.
Irene listens to Davis's advice to 'never give up', and actually starts believing it..we don't know whether to feel sorry or hopeful for her, but she uses her enthusiasm for cheerleading (and some stolen vodka) to start her own cheer team--among the seniors, and a lot of people are affected by her new found tenacity. The ending may have been a little more sugar coated than was necessary, but I liked the film because it was filled with imperfect atypical characters, each allowed their own small story, who find their way into Irene's world.
Newbie McLeod is quite good, fighting tears as her face genuinely registers pain in one moving scene. She may not have the polish of Saoirse Ronan in Lady Bird, but this teen story is just as entertaining as that film, and maybe more original in style and execution. The film provides genuine laughs and pulls at your hear
