L'arte di cavarsela

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.

"We all die alone, so why am I supposed to spend my life working, sweating, struggling...I have better things to do with my time." George (Highmore) is a high schooler who has pretty much given up. Bitter with the world and his mother he refuses to do anything and hasn't done a real day's work in his entire senior year. He meets Sally (Roberts) who sees the same thing in herself. This is a very good movie made better by the acting. Highmore, in a departure from his usual disgustingly good boy roles is excellent in this. Roberts, who is fast becoming a better actress then her aunt is, is also fantastic in this movie. The role of George is written to be a total jerk to most people he meets, but Highmore has enough "baggage" with him that even though he is not nice to almost everyone in the movie you still wind up rooting for him and wanting him to succeed by the end. That is a rare thing for an actor that young. While this is a very good movie that forces you to keep watching it does tend to drag in a few places, but not enough to be boring. If that makes sense. Overall, a very good movie with great acting that is a definite watch. The type of movie that all high schoolers should watch. I give it a B+.

*Also try - Happythankyoumoreplease & It's Kind Of A Funny Story

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.

this movie has gotten a pretty bad rap, it supposedly got terrible reviews from critics when it was first released and it didn't perform well at the box office but i don't see what is so horrible about it, i thought it was a nice, easily watchable film that didn't follow the usual cliché storyline that most teen romance films follow.

Freddie Highmore and Emma Roberts are rather sweet together, although i have to say the Emma Roberts character is slightly annoying and a bit of a hussy, obviously she's picked this up from her mother but besides that the two leads are great together and have a genuine awkwardness between them that is really funny and nice to watch.

The only time that i thought the movie faltered was when it started to deal with the family side of the story, i didn't find it very interesting and it seemed like a kinda boring subplot. I would have liked to see more scenes with Alicia Silverstone because she is great and it was cool to see her in a very different role like this. Also the lack of soundtrack lets this film down slightly but this is an independent film so i guess you have to make allowances for that.

So if you're looking for a teen film that is a tad left of field, check this out.

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.