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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)

Don Morton

Don Morton has viewed some 6,000 movies, frequently awake. A bachelor and avid cyclist, he currently divides his time between Tokyo and a high-tech 4WD super-camper somewhere in North America.