Being a bit grimmer, I rented the film Flower, a teen dark comedy. Gave this one a shot after seeing it compared to the (also dark comedy) Thoroughbreds which I’d liked earlier this year. This one isn’t quite as good but it’s still reasonably darkly humorous.
Zoey Deutch plays a teen girl who, with her friends, seduces older men looking for some teen action, films them, and blackmails them for spending cash. Nice start. So Deutch’s mother gets with a guy who has an overweight son and the parents try to make them friends. She’s pretty ok with being his buddy but he’s reserved and confused by this sunny misanthrope who has come into his life. But she eventually gleans that he’d been touched in a bad way by a local teacher – played by Adam Scott – so she sets out to do that thing she does.
Some of this movie feels like it’s trying too hard, and other parts feel believable and real. It’s an awkward flick that needed maybe a few more passes at the script level. Or maybe that’s what they were going for. I dunno. But I reasonably enjoyed it and can recommend it for people who like their comedies dark (and somehow cheerful).
Score: 80