Simply Perfect

Expected more

Excellent but underrated film

What begins as a feel-good-human-interest story turns into a mystery, then a tragedy, and ultimately an outrage.

Lilly (Dakota Fanning) and Gerri (Elizabeth Olsen) are two best friends on their last summer before college. They meet David (Boyd Holbrook) selling ice cream at the beach who takes Lilly's picture as they walk away. Lilly catches her father cheating with one of his patients. Gerri is infatuated with David. Lilly also likes David but she can't tell Gerri. Lilly works on a ferry tour under the lecherous eyes of her boss Fitzsimmons (Peter Sarsgaard). I want to like this movie for the two leads. There is just something unoriginal and outdated about this movie. In fact, I thought this is a period piece at first. The writing is so uninspired. Naomi Foner is the writer and director. I don't really have any big problems with her directions. It looks fine especially for her debut. The writing doesn't have anything compelling to say. The story meanders. There is a tired feel about everything in this movie. This should be a better coming-of-age movie for two skilled actresses. The story throws a lot of stuff on the screen but nothing actually sticks.

"I just wanted to make you feel better. You liked him so much." Lilly (Fanning) and Gerri (Olsen) have been best friends for years and have just graduated high school. Both are on their way to college and neither want to go there as virgins. They decide to make a pact with each other that they will both lose it before they leave. Things are going along fine until they meet and start to like the same boy. This is a plot that has been done to death. Usually though the movie is a comedy and this is a drama. The one thing this does have going for it that the others don't is great actors. The acting alone is enough to keep this from becoming too cheesy or cookie-cutter like. The movie is very predictable and again is something you have seen a hundred times but Fanning and Olsen together are a great team. There are moments that make you cry and make you angry but overall this is a movie that will give you a good feeling. Overall a movie that who's plot has been done to death but the acting makes it feel fresh. A very good coming of age movie that teen girls should watch to show what is really important in life. I give this a high B+.

Yes, I have. We all have.Two regurgitated caricatures of the stereotypical American teenage girl, Lily and Gerry are sooooooo different yet so alike. Both fall in love with the same part shady stalker, part brooding troubled artiste~ who wants to travel the world but his list of places to visit is, like, "Rome... (d-uh)Paris..." Daddy issues are, of course, played up wonderfully, because what is any worthy female teenage protagonist if not the product of her father's neglect? What possibly can one expect when the preppy rich teenage daughter of a straight-laced household made up of detached parents and siblings goes to her dad's office to ask him to get through with this patient already they're getting late for dinn- *gasp* and henceforth a series of incredibly stupid decisions are made by two girls we initially assume to be a lot smarter, wittier, braver and mature than they turn out to be. Every trick in the book for a deep and wholesome young-woman-coming-of-age film is not simply used, but abused in the most blatant schticky manner possible; I promise you, there is more than one cameo made by Sylvia Plath.This film is a true example of lazy filmmaking in an industry where ~gratuitous-yet-modest~ sex scenes and summertime virginity pacts are more important than honest *portrayals* let alone discussions about teenage turmoil and female sexuality. Not even that awkwardly long shot of Dakota Fanning kinda-sorta running-jogging could redeem this movie.Don't watch it. You've already seen it. And you've seen better.

The story focuses on Lily, who is best friends with Jerry, is leaving for college after next summer. They both pledge to loose their virginity before that. At the beach one day, they meet a man, David. Jerry displays her interest while Lily stands calm, but David seems to like Lily more. Lily and David gets close up to the point that the have sex, without Jerry knowing. One day, Jerry's father died. Knowing that Jerry likes David, she asks him to go and see her. While there, Jerry asks David to make love to her. Jerry tells Lily that she and David had sex. Lily then starts avoiding David, even as he ask her to tell the truth to Jerry that she sent him to Jerry's place. One day Jerry leaves for Paris, and Lily goes to see him. Before going, David kisses her and Jerry sees that. Jerry confronts her and she tells the whole truth. Jerry gets upset because Lily plays God on her by 'throwing' David at her. On the day Lily goes to move to college, Jerry comes, and the two are friends again.Maye it's a culture difference issue, but for me the basic premise is quite alarming for me, that the two girls pledge to loose their virginity just like that. The good thing about the movie is the story is quite intricate, though it's based on quite an alarming premise. The story develops well from a simple story about friendship and relationship, to one of ambivalent betrayal then to reconciliation. The pace built by the scenes and editing is quite good, one of a medium tempo, not so fast yet not so slow.The acting is nice. Dakota Fanning did a good job in keeping her calm character like on almost all of her roles, while at the same time she is still able to have a go at heated dialogs. Elizabeth Olsen nails a great performance portraying a carefree girl. She did amazing at adding a soft New Yorker accent to sweeten the character she plays. Having Demi Moore, Peter Sarsgaard, and Clark Gregg also add a nice touch to the whole movie.The costumes are nice, they can steal the attention with nicely picked color mixes. Ge soundtracks are especially nice, they help to build the swinging yet slowed down mood of almost the entire movie. Shooting in New York, this movie is able to portray the city as one not so crowded, a far cry from the actual thing, I guess.My final say is that this movie earns a nice 6 out of 10 score, though a recommendation is not going to pass from me. Personally I think this movie suits more of a couch entertainment than a cinema movie.