ScoobyWell Great visuals, story delivers no surprises

Comwayon A Disappointing Continuation

Ella-May O'Brien Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Cristal The movie really just wants to entertain people.

lexyblair Palo Alto is one of my all-time favorite movies. It touches my heart unlike most dramas, and is more realistic than any other high school movie. It touches on important subject, and brings to life an atmosphere of what real high school is. It is powerful, and incredibly emotional at times. It doesn't try to be something it's not, doesn't try to make high school look better than it is. It's the most honest movie I have truly ever watched, and I go back to it again and again. Gia Coppola did an excellent job telling the original story of what James Franco had written. I thought I would go ahead and list some criteria (from least important, to most important: Filmography, and setting: The setting takes place exactly where the title says it does, Palo Alto, California. Most of the time the lighting in the film is somewhat dreary and gloomy. I would definitely categorize this as an "art film" because it's the actiong that brings this to life, the setting is merely a backdrop. Much of the filming has wide shots, and shots from down below, showing lots of shadows and emotion on the characters faces. Acting: I would give the acting an A, Emma Roberts being the one who did the best job portraying her character, although Jack Kilmer comes a close second. He really makes us believe he's s teenage guy in a small town, messing around to have some fun. Everybody in the film is extremely believable, they reminded me of people I know. Even myself-- I can relate to all of it. The small town boredom, and partying every weekend to try to bring some life back into our eyes. Theme: This is my most important criteria. We all know that the main plot of the story is what ties it all together. But with Palo Alto, the only major plot is teenagers dealing with everyday struggles, and how to maneuver around new relationships. Dealing with things like hook-ups, drinking, community service, friendship, and sports.It is so incredibly well done and believable. I have gone through high school myself, and first watched this back when I was actually in high school. It was a breath of fresh air from all of the other high school dramas portraying high school to be something it's not. I would highly recommend any high school-er watching this, or anyone really. We sympathize with the characters, and cry and laugh at the same time. It's a great film.On the other hand, I could see why people wouldn't like this movie. It doesn't sugar coat anything. It shows underage kids having sex, using vulgar language, and doing things such as drinking and smoking weed. It's not for everyone. I assume that older generations wouldn't approve... if only they knew that this is exactly what their kids are actually doing. It can be a hard movie to watch at times, one scene being especially fragile where a young girl is taken advantage of time and time again, and we can only watch as she makes one mistake after another. But that's truly what high school is about, learning and growing. Some of my favorite quotes from the movie: "You don't care about anything.""I wish I didn't care about anything.""there are girls looking for love, boys looking for trouble, and men looking for both.""I'm shivering because you're beautiful."

dixthunder I do not recommend this movie. I didn't have high hopes for this movie considering its ratings but it seemed like at least watchable teen movie. Oh, how wrong I was... The movie has a great cast but the story is weak, barely linked and developed, but also very weird and creepy at times. I like Emma Roberts but her acting in this movie was mediocre. I was hoping that the story will eventually get better or have a good ending at least. During the movie I was thinking should I continue watching or just quit. I watched the last half hour just because I knew it will end soon (and still hoping that something will improve). When the movie ended, I felt regret because of losing so much time on it 'cause the ending was as bad as the whole story or even worse, I can't even decide. I wanted to give this movie a 3 but it would be too generous.

MisterWhiplash Being that this is from a book of short stories (though inter-connected I believe) from James Franco, it's interesting that Palo Alto works as well as it does. At first I wasn't quite sure, and the first half of the movie appears like it'll be just a lot of aimless partying and following 'oh, whatever' teen angst and mishaps; as one girl (Emma Roberts) navigates her own feelings for the boys around her, another guy (Jack Kilmer) gets into car-crash trouble and has to serve community service. Meanwhile, Nat Wolf is like De Niro in Mean Streets transposed into sunny suburban California: a don't-give-a-f*** guy full of crazy - or just a little attention perhaps - and is very likely a sociopath at best.A lot of this is character stuff, and one could accuse Gia Coppola (daughter of the late Gian-Carlo, grand-daughter of Francis, the latter does a voice of the judge by the way), of doing some of the same middle-upper class navel-gazing as her Aunt Sofia has done in work like the Virgin Suicides or Somewhere. But the good news with Palo Alto is that, after kind of a rocky, ho-hum start, the characters gain some interest, some perspective. It helps that Robert's story involves her soccer coach with a romantic link and played by Franco himself and, whether it's due to his own material or not, he's really good here, subtle, damaged, creepy but not in an overt way, perfectly suburban. And Jack Kilmer's character - as does his performance - grows and deepens over the course of the movie through his work as an artist and in community service.Palo Alto edges out to be a satisfying experience, though it's more cumulative; you may wonder where this is going after the first half hour and if these self-important teenage-wasteland-ers will be worth following. But I think the creativity in Frano and Coppola's writing is that, meeting them halfway, there's more depth and heartbreak and genuine empathy you get for them as they experience more and more. The most original stuff? Maybe not. At the least it keeps things relatively low-key, and is a revelation for Nat Wolf as the live-wire of the group. It's less about 'oh, don't you feel bad for these well-off people, they have feelings too' than 'these are just people, they're pained, they're growing, give them time before they self-destruct.'Oh, and Val Kilmer's in it too as an off-in-his-world stoner step-dad. Which is awesome.

Matt Hew There are movies that are so bad, they're good, and then there are movies that are just bad, with no saving grace--example: Palo Alto.This movie follows the lives of several teenagers, with little commentary on the how and why of each event. The two leads--Roberts and Franco--are highlighted, and are the most interesting characters-- the only problem, the story is a complete misinterpretation and misrepresentation of ephebephilia. It is a shame, because the trailer led you to believe thats what the movie was about--and it had very little to do with it all.The basic idea of the love interest between Franco and Roberts is that Franco, aka Mr. B the soccer coach, pursues April, an underage girl on his team. The film suggested that Mr. B used his power to manipulate April, and furthermore, it is revealed that using girls as his babysitter is his routine, that he is a predator intentionally to all underage girls, or at least multiple. In other words, the movie suggests that pedophiles are not only child predators, but they engage in polygamy and are sick and twisted in all sexual matters, not just underage girls. This is horribly false. Apart from this, there is no further plot line involving Mr. B, such as court cases or parental conflicts, and Roberts' parent(s) are nowhere to be found in the movie at all. In other words, child predators are apparently sneaky and dangerous intentionally. Again, not usually true.First, let's clarify something. There are 4 types of pedofilia: Infantaphilia, pedophilia, hebephilia, and ephebephilia. Infant- Infatns, pedo-kids (like a pediatrician), hebephilia-pubescent but not fully developed (generally 11-14), and ephebephilia (developed teens, generally 15-19). Mr. B/Franco would fall under the ephebephilia. Does Palo Alto ever discuss any of these, or even use these terms? Not once. Second, ephebephiles especially fall into the next topic: they typically aren't going around from teen to teen. While they may be "attracted" to multiple teens, they usually don't go around on a mass pedophile spree. We often think statutory rape is like every other rape, when it really isn't. Statutory rape can exist even if both parties consent, and the older is the guilty party. Is ephebephilia wrong? Well, at least in the U.S. for 15-17, because it is illegal. In most other countries, generally under 16 is illegal. The movies makes zero mention of this factor. Third: Mr. B, at least in the film, received no punishment whatsoever. Furthermore, there is no evidence that April battled the thought of turning him in. It is true that underage victims might fear revealing the circumstances, but no such thing was shown. It was just as if this was normal everyday behavior. It's normal to experience the attraction, not so normal to not experience emotion following it.Fourth: The movie suggests Mr. B intentionally exploited April's emotions. Again, not always true. In fact, rarely true. More often than not, it is actually the female who pursues the man, putting the responsibility on the man to show restraint, and not place himself in bad circumstances--such as giving a girl a ride home, or being alone with a student, or inviting your own pupil to babysit in an unmarried home. This is actually the main reason why there are so many cases--there are many preventive programs for the teens, telling them not to do it, which in some cases has the reverse effect, while there is no program for adults on how to avoid those circumstances, so they wind up giving in to temptation, as most men are attracted to fertile female bodies--that is evolution.Am I suggesting any type of pedophilia is OK? Well, some ephebephilia is legal/OK: 18-19, and in other countries as low as 16. It's really relative to the country. It is only not OK here because of the law, but we are one of the highest age of majority's in the world.The movie isn't bad because it's about ephebephilia, it's bad because it advertises that it is and then has zero discussion on it, and completely misrepresents it.