Sidelined: The QB and Me

(following review copied from my letterboxd)

"i'm not just great with my hands" SWOON. But also, After? Embarrassed. The Kissing Booth? In the corner crying. Perfect Addiction? Six feet under. In all seriousness "Sidelined: The QB and Me" is easily one of the best wattpad adaptations to be made so far. Unfortunately, I do have to compare to the ones we have gotten so far. Because this movie isn't riddled with endless montages to try to make up for acting or lack of plotline (which we know after decided to switch out montages for the hundreds of pages of plot they could've used) and not cringe seen on top of cringe scene. Don't get me wrong. There are a few sprinkled in, but this movie didn't try to be something that it's not. It knew exactly what it was and who the audience was and what the audience wants.

With this being based on the book (The QB Bad Boy and Me) I knew there was bound to be some changes, but the ones made only made it better. In the book Noah's character (Drayton) sister is murdered and left her dead on the side of the road which does bring a good emotional moment in the book, but it's thrown in so randomly that it doesn't seem realistic, but in the film it is changed and better built up. I also would like to see the diversity of the cast, and the characters may not be an all straight cast.

Also I'll be honest I like to see my movies have sex scenes, especially when it comes from such a smutty genre, but I like that this was more of a fade to black case. Which I knew it would be with them being high schoolers and also being know Noah Becks film debut (I don't think he would bear at all for his first film and I respect that).

All in all, I hope this film will bring a long partnership between Wattpad/Webtoons and Tubi. I would also really love to see the Director work with these two studios, because he just captured everything so perfectly. (i'm really praying he'll get to do the adaptation for "The Bad Boy's Girl" by Blair Holden next - which in my dreams stars Olivia Holt as Tessa O'Connell).

It was exactly what I expected, storyline-wise. But I didn't expect the depth or chemistry between the cast. I put off watching it for a bit because I thought why watch another teenaged romcom when once you've seen one, you've seen them all, but I was caught up in the storyline faster than expected.

There are plenty of moments of swoonworthy lines and scenes. The dialogue felt relatable and comfortable in delivery, which I was certain was going to be the downfall.

Is it cheesy? Yes. Is it predictable? 100%. Does it follow the same recipe of every other movie in its genre? Definitely. But is it worth the watch? Absolutely!

There are a few cliches and stereotypes to be found throughout "Sidelined: The QB and Me". If you're at all familiar with football movies, I'm sure you know which ones I'm talking about.

Said stereotypes and cliches don't take away from the film, which is nothing too spectacular but also not awful, despite what some of the reviews here might tell you.

It even features James Van Der Beek at the main character's pushy father, which doesn't seem right because he was just playing a QB in "Varsity Blues" a few years ago...right?

Siena Agudong as Dallas and Noah Beck as Drayton Lahey were fine. Their chemistry developed over the course of the movie. They had their cheesy romantic moments, of course, which were well-delivered. Never heard of either of them before.

Ultimately, "Sidelined: The QB and Me" is a decent enough sports romance movie. It's not "Any Given Sunday", but it's an easy watch, and good entertainment.

In the sea of trashy lemonade romcoms with low budget bad acting and cringy dialogue and scenes this was surprising good actually awesome. Now it wasn't perfect but the bar for these type of movies is on the floor. The movie had cute scenes that worked and weren't cringy, the chemistry between leads was definitely there, the story was well rounded with some depth, the characters were loveable.

When i saw which studio produced the movie a had literature no expectation but after watching it i want to see what else will they make cus i will be watching. It was well casted, well produced and it looked nice almost believable so i honestly recommend it.

I don't even know how to explain how lovely it was to watch this movie. I honestly gave it a shot because I've always found Siena Agudong to be a beautiful and talented actor but was always in roles that just somehow missed the mark. I had hope this one would hit the nail on the head.

It did! And she did! And even better, the entire cast was great. The "conflict" was very mild but that was a welcome thing in this current world we live in.

It was just a lovely and harmless love story between two really likable characters living the same lives and situations as we all do but coming out on top.

This was a believable and sweet love story and everything I wanted when I started watching...even if I didn't expect it.

Siena has REALLY grown and matured in her acting and her personality. I think she could be on for some really great roles if she keeps this up.

Would watch again.