Life in a Year - Un anno ancora

Not sure what all the hate is about! Yeah it's a story about coming of age teens, struggling with life, learning to be themselves and falling in love. And yes... The storyline has been done before and it's been done better, but who cares! This movie has a lot of important lessons about living your dreams, being your authentic self and not being afraid of what other people think. I found all the characters in this film to have depth and I cared about them and that's what I really like from a movie. I have seen some pretty horrid crap movies in my life and this definitely isn't one of them. Sure, it's no Oscar winner, but it made me feel things and that's all I want from a good film sometimes.

I don't seek out romantic movies but wife got to choose. I had no idea what the movie was about so the cancer reveal got my attention and didn't let go. I knew where the movie was probably heading and there were some little twists along the way. Reading most of the negative comments on here I see a lot of people projecting onto the actors or the Smith/Pinkett family and not actually the merits of the film. It was a good watch with a diverse set of characters mirror the real world - not just some WASP pocket of America.

Beware, there are several "10" reviews by people who just recently have established their accounts, most likely studio shills to get the rating up. This is becoming more and more routine on the IMDb. You'd best ignore them.

My greatest disappointment with this film is casting Jaden Smith as the boyfriend. If you do a search on the terms "can't act" you might well get a photo of Jaden Smith. He drags the movie down.

A few years ago he was featured in "After Earth" with his dad, on that role I wrote, "This is a very plain story, and relies on young Jaden Smith to convince us he can carry an action movie. He showed us he can't. He is not a good actor, and he enunciates so poorly that we often had difficulty even understanding what he said."

Other than that it is a decent story, although told many times before, and Cara Delevingne is really good in a challenging role. See the movie if you will, just don't expect too much. It is available FREE on Amazon so you are only out a bit of your time.

I actually enjoyed it. I don't understand all this hate.

I've never felt compelled to write a review until I read some of the bad reviews for this movie. This was a well-written and very well-acted film. Yes, there's a teen romance (which shouldn't have surprised anyone who watched the trailer first); but I found it to be a whole lot more than that. I'm 49, and I connected with it instantly. Jaden Smith is so good in this performance that you feel what his character is feeling - best kind of movie. Highly recommend.