The Art of Getting By, 2011

The Art of Getting By, 2011
Director: Gavin Wiesen
Cast: Freddie Highmore, Emma Roberts, Michael Angarano




The Art in short: Believing the quote that you are born alone, die alone and everything else is an illusion, George doesn't see the point of life, school, or homework. Then he meets Sally and he now has a reason to go to school and make friends, even if he's not ready to admit to himself or to her that he likes her. The school's principal and art teacher introduce him to an alumni, and successful artist, Dustin, who can help guide George along life's path, but other distractions start surfacing, and George might not even be able to graduate from high school.


Stage: Home theatre, Sunday evening


Preps: Don't have a clue what am I about to see. Don't know the plot, don't know who the actors are, never heard of this movie before.

Reality: The movie has a lot of weaknesses, in perticular the underestimation of an average viewer. Maybe the target group is a bit younger, however, even that target group deserves some respect in terms of dialogues, true acting, creative scenery, well played interactions between the crew, maybe a touch of reality. Because this is what this piece is lacking.

The general impression is extremely bad and I get easily bored when watching this. It does have some biorhythmical ups (in terms of - I get more excited and think that something is going to happen), but the downfalls are even steeper each time the movie takes a turn. Which is quite often.

A teenage love is a well built term, many times represented in various pieces. However, this one is one of the worst screenings I have ever seen and I strongly disrecommend it. The story will annoy you, young couple will annoy you as they have nothing else to do but to look at each other without real energy. Is one of the messages that if you are not in school in the time you should be, should you be in the movies watching something good, or eating noodles (creative way of being out of school)..
Maybe the valid lesson is that you need to take responsibility for your assignements. This is the one truth, driven from this movie that stands for universal moral standard. And maybe the only good thing about this movie.


My personal rate: 1,0 (don't watch it. Don't. Use your time more wisely :)


The Art of Getting By on IMDB