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The Edge of Seventeen

Breathing new life into a teen chestnut

An awkward high school junior’s already, like, totally annoying life gets infinitely more humiliating when her best (okay, only) friend starts dating her popular all-star older brother. Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit), expertly balancing snarky with sensitive, sympathetic with dislikable, manages to provide this often cookie-cutter character with some dimension, and elevates this witty and observant update of the old coming-of-age chestnut to the thoroughly watchable. Kind of like a John Hughes movie with depth and honesty. And cussing. Woody Harrelson is hilarious as the teacher that gets where she’s coming from. (104 min)