Love That Boy

Every once in a while, you come across a film that's just... different. That really makes you feel.

I like schlock movies like most people. I'll watch Bruce Willis shoot everything that moves, and I'll watch pretty much any romantic comedy.

But those kinds of movies are what I watch while I'm waiting for something with real heart. Something that isn't just a stale carbon copy of plots that have been done to death a trillion times.

Love That Boy is that kind of special movie. It starts out with the kind of main character that you just want to slap. And then it takes you with her on an emotional ride that's really worth experiencing.

Movies like this are true in a way that even documentaries rarely are. I'm writing this immediately after watching it, and I'm so overwhelmed that I'm probably not saying everything that I want to.

Do yourself a favor. Watch this movie. Watch it by yourself, if you can. There's too much social pressure in the world to color between the lines that you're really better off watching it that way. But one way or another, watch it. You won't be sorry.

+ The story itself gives an interesting view of a too ambitious girl who is not on this planet but lives in her artificial challenge-controlled life - created by herself in form of a list, containing all the 'important' things what in life a person should reach. The age-problem is also interesting, comes from real life (the boy is much too young for her...what should be done, it is reckoned as a shame, will she undertake...?)

• The above mentioned list was very exaggerated. The implementation of the main role character was also very exaggerated, anti-antipathetic. In total the antipathetic feeling and the fast-changing exaggerated scenes overwhelmed the story.

Phoebe is an overachieving college student, with a geeky strange personality. Her tastes are unusual, so she doesn't really fit into college life very well. Her goals in life are written down on pieces of paper, and she crosses them off as she achieves them; so really her ultimate goal in life is to achieve her goals in life. She has a roommate Robin who semi-tolerates her, but even Robin has her limits and eventually grows frustrated by her pompousness. One day Robin just decides to pack up and leave to go back to her home -- she'd basically rather be anywhere but couped up with Phoebe. Robin even feels that Phoebe is a bit obsessed with her; perhaps Phoebe is; Robin implies that Phoebe needs a boyfriend. Getting a boyfriend immediately becomes Phoebe's next entry in her goal-in-life list.

Unfortunately, Phoebe is a bit ill-equipped for this task. She meets guys randomly, things go well briefly, and then all of a sudden she decides to show them how much smarter she is than them and things don't progress any further. She has a friend in the 14-year old neighbor boy Frazier across the street, who she can be her natural self with. He doesn't mind her showing how much smarter she is than him, because he is 14 and she is 21, and so he already expects her to be smarter than him. But he's also pretty smart himself, somewhat wise for a 14 year old. Frazier has a younger sister Bug who provides a frantically geeky comedy relief -- she's more geeky than Phoebe. Phoebe asks Frazier to help her take her kayak classes (another one of her life goals), and a bond develops between them.

Meanwhile, Robin the ex-roommate decides to become a roommate again. Robin has had her own little misadventure across Canada during her trip home, so she decides to come back. When she gets back, she finds out about the little friendship/relationship that's developed between Frazier and Phoebe. So she decides to inject a little reality into Phoebe's life by letting her know that in the real-world 21 year-olds aren't supposed to date 14 year-olds. Phoebe says they aren't dating, but Robin says it still looks like they're dating. This sets up a moral dilemma in Phoebe that she wasn't even aware that she should be feeling up until that point.

How the movie ends, I won't tell you, check it out. I give it a 9/10.

Phoebe (Nadia Litz) is a 21 year old obsessively overachieving student. Her widely divergent interests are in her exceedingly quirky list of things to do before graduation from college. Her overbearing nature drives her one and only friend away. When the friend points out that she has never even had a boyfriend, she promptly puts it on the list. However, she's way too clueless to act like a normal human being. Then he starts talking to the 14 year old neighbor boy hired to mow her lawn. Meanwhile her friend is having a horrible time backpacking with a guy she met on the plane.

It's a quirky girl indie filmed in Halifax, Canada. Nadia Litz has a bit of charm. She's appealing enough to keep the movie interesting. I think they could probably get to the boy part of the movie faster, and get a better boy to play the part. The dialog and interactions between them is kind of stiff and awkward. If there is a good movie in this, it has to come from these two characters. I just don't think they have chemistry. The one notable actor is Ellen Page. She plays a neighbor kid who keeps trying to seduce the boy.

Set in suburban Halifax, a college student meets the neighbour across the street. LOVE THAT BOY is a heart-warming look at a coming-of-age story for two young people. Frazer is the typical earnest, adorable 14 year old boy that we all fall in love with. There's the other girl on the street who constantly picks on Frazer because she "likes" him. Phoebe is the over-achieving college student who falls for the lawnboy. Phoebe is a "late bloomer" in relationships and the Frazer is attracted to the Phoebe who is mature, fun and sincere. The story is about two people who "get each other" however the age difference comes between them. See this well-written and acted film. 8/10