So Damn Easy Going

At some point in the 2010s, many European countries seemed to agree that gay teens were fine, actually and also good fodder for a movie. So, we got a wonderful dirge of progressive, queer coming-of-age films. But after however many years of that, I grew tired. Yeah, the kids are alright. They’re great, actually. Sexuality isn’t really an issue for them. And yet, these films persisted. So, what’s the next step for the next decade? According to So Damn Easy Going, it’s to add a new element of identity. In this movie’s case, our queer protagonist doesn’t experience conflict from that identity. But she sure does experience conflict relating to her ADHD.

Protagonist Joanna lives with her depressed father who doesn’t work enough to keep their lights on, let alone provide for Joanna’s ADHD medication. So, Joanna does what she can to purchase her own medication. Her friend with benefits, Matheus gives her some nearly expired condoms to sell. Joanna fails to do so, but her attempts lead her to interacting with Audrey. With or without medication, Joanna can’t stop putting her foot in her mouth around Audrey. But luckily, Audrey seems to find it charming. Joanna continues to explore what her feelings towards Audrey are as she involves herself in a drug deal in an attempt to get the money she needs for her medication.

This is a great cinematic depiction of someone with ADHD. It’s a good depiction of a character, generally. But the ADHD aspect of this character is what sets Joanna apart from so many other bisexual teens in European cinema. So Damn Easy Going brings the audience into Joanna’s chaotic mind using a mixture of choice dialogue, physical performance from lead Nikki Hansebald and lighting cues to show when things get particularly overwhelming for Joanna. All of it is extremely effective in bringing this character to life and making the audience empathize with her daily existence.

So Damn Easy Going is also a very funny film. And in hindsight, it’s surprising more writers don’t have ADHD characters in comedy. In Joanna’s case, it certainly gives a valid reasons for why she tends to say the worst, but funniest thing in so many situations. This is not to say that the film minimizes or stereotypes ADHD for comedy. But rather that so many films want comedy from characters saying the wrong thing. So then you get a character who’s sort of nebulously “quirky.” With the specificity and care of So Damn Easy Going, we get a character who feels real and can offer a sense of drama as well as many moments of humour. It’s really lucky for Joanna that Audrey is charmed by her cringefail nature. Wish I could find a girl like that.

So Damn Easy Going creates an engaging, funny and enjoyable portrait of its lead character. And this is a character who I haven’t seen before in all my hundreds of WLW films I’ve watched. My main critique of the film is that I don’t think it needed to go as deep on the drug deal plot. I was so happy to exist with Joanna on a more realistic, low stakes sort of story. Some of the drug deal elements took away from what a simply brilliant character she is. Director Christopher Sandler drops you into his character’s head from moment one and keeps you there the whole time. And he makes this achievement of characterization look so damn easy.

Overall rating: 7.6/10

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