A Netflix Picture, Written by Jennifer Niven, Liz Hannah, Directed by Brett Haley.
I want to first make it clear that I know this film has quite a few fans, and that it is also deals with very serious subject matter that is very sensitive for many people, and while I totally respect that, I simply didn’t think this film worked for me.
I haven’t read the book and went into the film with very little knowledge, apart from that it was a coming of age film starring Elle Fanning, who I regard as one of the best young actresses in Hollywood. The film that I found once I started to watch was very disjointed, with the first half cramming in every ‘teen romance’ cliche as possible, and the second taking a huge shift into serious drama, and it really didn’t work for me.
I think the main issue was that I never was able to connect to ‘Finch’ and feel like he was a truly good person who was simply troubled. He was overly mysterious and very pushy, and I know many people may disagree, but I just didn’t feel the connection between the two lead characters.
Justice Smith is a talented actor, but I didn’t particularly care for his performance here, although I’m sure he has multiple good roles ahead of him.
Elle Fanning on the other hand is the shining light of this film, offering real charm and a sense of pain, that is never properly explored. She is a remarkably talented and experienced actress for someone so young, and I think she is such an interesting artist to watch.
This film seemed very well intentioned and I appreciate that, but it just didn’t work overall for me.
Rating = 2.5/5
Howe's World of Film and TV 