Curapedi I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Frances Chung Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Matylda Swan It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

Quiet Muffin This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

novagirl11 I like James Marsden, but I think this is the worst role I've seen him in. Claire Danes has a couple emotional performances, but it's not enough to redeem this intense, depressing mess of a movie

Reno Rangan Another teen comedy-drama, precisely to say a coming-of-age theme based on the novel of the same name. It is not from the big production house, but the well known faces make it a worth a watch and their performances were too not bad. The tale of a teen tomboy girl Lucy, whose father visits home often who works in Canada and her mother is an easy going type. It's about a time for her sexual exploration and the first choice is her best buddy Kenny. But quickly the things around changes which forces her to opt the life she wants and what follows is how it all shapes up before bringing a curtain to the narration.I felt like wanting to give it a better rating, at least it deserves a decent respect, but narration had lots of up and down. That does not matter, even for how a tale begins, but the ending should have been a better one where I slightly disappointed with it. Sarah Bolger looked solid, totally one man show you could say. Maybe that is how the story was designed, but that did not stand a chance to impress me, because I thought it leaned excessively on her alone leaving other characters less developed. Anyway, it could also be said like this that it was her story which lacked the good support.It is not just a coming-of-age film, but when you look at how the story ends, that's kind of self-discovery. Maybe the girl was caught between the teenhood and adulthood, especially in the climax it leaped forward too long. The hardest part is the R rating for a teen film, though there were none nudes, even in the sex scenes, but the film topic itself highly influenced by those like experiencing and moving-on in the life. So the film is not worth going after for a watching by someone's recommendation, only when you get an opportunity without much options you could try it.5.5/10

Paul Alexander This is at tops a TV movie designed for a Sunday afternoon when you have nothing better to do. It does stray along way from Pete Fromm's book which is considerably more intense and describes the falling apart of a family in greater detail than the film. The performances were OK, James Marsden and Claire Danes gave below par performances compared to their other work. Sarah Bolger carried the role of Lucy off nicely but for obvious reason didn't commit to the character 100%. For those interested it might be worth doing a search for a Matthew J. Clark short called 'Dry Rain' based on a short story by Pete Fromm.If you do enjoy the film it is very much worth reading the book which goes into many of the implied topics in the film in greater detail.

Girish Gowda Sixteen-year-old Lucy (Sarah Bolger) is a tomboy. She gets on well with her father (James Marsden) but is frequently separated from him for months on end when he goes to work in Canada. Her relationship with her mother (Claire Danes) is easy-going and she takes care of most things around the house. She tunes into her sexuality and her not so 'stable' family dynamics. She develops a relationship with her best friend Kenny (Thomas Mann) and starts to realize that her parents' marriage is not as solid as she had previously imagined. She notices that her father's extended stays away from the family are not typical, and that her mother does not pine for her father as much as she herself does.After watching this movie, I feel like Sarah Bolger is a naturally talented actress. She can hold your attention the entire time she's on screen. The rest of the actors are all fine. This is a small compelling chapter in a young girl's life. Lucy doesn't shun the mainstream stereotypical look of girls, as much as she naturally develops into her own person with her own traits. She realizes that she doesn't have a 'stable' family per se and that she may be the only adult in her family. The parents, their actions, struggles, the guys at school, her falling in mutual love with the one person she knows she can trust outside of her family, her love for cooking, everything is quite realistic and a little depressing at times.Most of the characters are nuanced and as the story progresses, their outbursts come naturally. Each one is given enough time and material to let their personalities come through. Their actions aren't glorified, but neither are they demonized. It just comes off as understandable. Rape is one thing I simply cannot stand and Lucy should have made a complaint to make the boy pay, but we have seen/heard of that course of inaction a lot of times in real life. Her father telling the story of a mutilated saint just came off as ignorant of reality, but also highlighted his upbringing and the guilt he felt for having a child at such a young age. After Roger Ebert's passing, there's only one critic that I trust. He hasn't reviewed this movie, but I fail to understand the disdain and vitriol spewed against this charming coming of age tale by most of the other self-anointed 'critics'. This isn't a path-breaking tale, but it doesn't mean it doesn't have its own appeal.6.5/10