The more things change, the more they stay the same? One of the most appealing elements of this film is that it seems to take place in a more innocent time. It is 1983 and it is always sunny. Children can spend all day playing and return home only for meals, they can jump from bridges into rivers, they enjoy the outdoors. But then, the occasionally product placed igadget determines that it is 2013. So why the time travel 30 years into the past? I'm not sure, but it's sweet. Like Candyland.
And such is the tone of the film in general: sweet, for sweetness' sake. The story is nothing new: boy dislikes Mom's boyfriend, boy seeks a place to call his own, boy finds male role model and the place he belongs and gets his first kiss. The summer he came of age. And eventually Mom sees that boyfriend is a jerk.
It's sweet, lighthearted and gets a few good laughs. I enjoyed it, but couldn't help feel that I was watching someone's therapy session. I felt like perhaps the writer was rewriting his adolescence and romanticising it. It is one way of owning it, but that is not the same as writing a beguiling screenplay. The main fault is that it takes for granted that we are onside with the protagonist. For me, that allegiance was not fully earned. Had it been fully earned, the rest of the film would likely have been a lot more satisfying.
See this if you are fond of the '80s and fancy a trip down memory lane.
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