Checked out the new teen romance movie The Sun Is Also a Star. Wasn’t familiar with the book its based on or the actors involved, though I know the guy is on Riverdale. But the trailer was cute and seemed to have some good dialog so decided to give it a shot.
The film is about a soon-to-be-deported Jamaican girl who thinks of NYC as her home. While searching for a way for her family to remain in the US, she runs across a Korean-American boy who has fallen for her, he thinks, through fate and destiny. He says he can make her fall in love with him in a day but she’s very scientifically-minded and doesn’t believe in love as a concept greater than hormones.
So we have a movie about two attractive young folk traveling through picturesque NYC, getting to know each other, and facing the fact they will never see each other again if she can’t find someone to help her from being deported. The movie is well-meaning, earnest, and doesn’t fall into too many tropes of teen romance movies. It clearly loves NYC and has a deft editing style that drops in asides and flashbacks to give us more detail about the two leads. For that, it gets a lot of credit.
I wish I could say it was a great movie though, but I just didn’t’ feel like the two leads had enough chemistry or charming banter to really win me over. I suspect this will work better for people who fall in love with them though. As it stands, it’s a well-made movie that’s well enough acted and not super predictable.
It’s a partial recommendation. If you are the kind of person just looking for a good old fashioned romance without a bunch of sick teenager cliches (like most romantic movies released right now), this might be something worth checking out. It still has a ticking tragedy clock but I think it’s unique enough to be forgiven.
Score: 78