Almost Adults

Almost Adults is going to receive a positive review from me though based on other reviews and ratings, this is a largely subjective ruling. What can I say? The movie spoke to me. The two lead characters are skinny, white young women with a fair amount of privilege and not a lot of overly dramatic life events to deal with. Also they’re played by Canadian actresses. I myself am a skinny, white young woman with a fair amount of privilege, few particularly dramatic life events to deal with and I’m Canadian. Maybe this movie is not for everyone but it certainly was for me. Personally, I found Almost Adults charming and funny but it certainly doesn’t hurt that it’s incredibly easy for me to see myself in these characters.

Almost Adults follows as Cassie who has just broken up with her long-term boyfriend. Cassie’s best friend Mackenzie is in the process of coming out as a lesbian. The two friends share a somewhat codependent relationship. However, this relationship is challenged by these major life upheavals.

Natasha Negovanlis and Elise Bauman play the two leads. Both of them are perhaps most well-known for playing a couple in the web-series Carmilla. The upside of this is that these actresses have well-established chemistry and a built-in audience. I was concerned about whether me that me and the rest of the audience would accept a story where not only are their characters not a couple but Natasha Negovanlis’ character is straight. This ended up not being a problem for me. The writing was strong enough that I didn’t want these characters to end up together. Bauman and Negovanlis still have exceptional chemistry but in this case, it doesn’t come off as romantic. Negovanlis and Bauman are strong enough as actors and given solid enough characters to play where it doesn’t feel like they’re retreading old territory or that their relationship held more romantic tension that it was supposed to.

The writing in Almost Adults is the standout. The script has a tight narrative which it sticks to and well-defined characters. There’s also enough jokes per minute to appease me. I found the movie generally funny. I liked the characters and related to them. While obviously the actors and director also did their part in realizing this, I do think that whether or not you like Almost Adults will be hinged on its story and dialogue.

Again, I don’t know how relatable this movie is for everyone but there were a lot of moments in this movie which I related to. Mackenzie is very much the “baby dyke” stereotype which I definitely lived through and maybe still am. I also really liked the way the movie portrayed the earlier stages of a lesbian relationship. Mackenzie’s anxiety over her new identity as a lesbian and getting a little too caught up in lesbian stereotypes is something which I have definitely also been guilty of. I saw a lot of myself and my experiences in this character.

I had a lot of good will going into this movie.  This movie at no point took away that good will. I found the film enjoyable. I was surprised to see the low rating given to it by IMDb and other people I’ve talked to.  Again, I think this might be an issue of universality. I personally found the movie relatable which is probably why it worked. I’ve heard from other people that they did not find it to be so and therefore the movie didn’t work for them. As such, your mileage may vary in terms of enjoyment of Almost Adults. But given how much these characters spoke to me personally, I found Almost Adults relatable, charming and funny.

Overall rating: 6.6/10

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