When 16 year old Lucy (Sarah Bolger, The Lazarus Effect, The Spiderwick Chronicles) and her best friend Kenny (Thomas Mann, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, Project X) realise their feelings for each other, they begin to explore this further in a summer fling. This complicates things as Kenny’s mother seems to disapprove, and Kenny is suddenly forced to move away to live with his dad.
This comes at a time when Lucy also begins to see the cracks in her family. Her mother (Claire Danes, Homeland, Terminator 3) never had the opportunity to grow up and experience life as she was a teen mum, and she becomes more distant as she spends more time at work; wearing provocative clothing and getting involved with a married man.
Lucy’s dad (James Marsden, Enchanted, Superman Returns) has worked as a lumberjack for as long as Lucy can remember, meaning he has always spent months at a time away from the family. He has traditional ideas about familial roles and female sexuality, and he starts to show his true abusive nature when Lucy opens up about her experiences with boys, and her mum secretly working.
Directed by Max Mayer (Adam), and written by Virginia Korus Spragg (An Unfinished Line), this film is based on the novel of the same title by Pete Fromm. It has been left in the hands of those with limited and sporadic experience and, as a result, As Cool As I Am doesn’t quite hit the mark. The concept is interesting but lacks depth in terms of the themes mentioned, only skimming the surface of dark topics like rape and domestic violence. These instead become convenient plot points to drive the story to an inconclusive ending.
Lucy and Kenny behave like independent and responsible adults, and they brush off problems far too easily for teenagers, failing to make it the coming-of-age film that it aspires to be. I suspect the novel tells the story far more effectively.
Reviewed by Adriana Allman
Rating out of 10: 3
As Cool as I Am will be released on DVD and Video On Demand from 18 November 2015.
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