The Edge of Seventeen (2016)

Directed by Kelly Fremon Craig. Starring Hailee Steinfeld, Haley Lu Richardson, Woody Harrelson, Kyra Sedgwick, Blake Jenner, Hayden Szeto, Alexander Calvert, Eric Keenleyside. [R]

High school junior Nadine (Steinfeld) loses her best friend, Krista (Richardson), after Krista starts dating Nadine’s older, far more popular brother (Jenner), which leads to a spiraling series of crises (mostly of the socially-mortifying variety) in this appealingly awkward mix of warmth and cringe, humor and pathos. The protagonist’s perspective lacks originality—what makes her feel fresh comes from performance more than writing—and the clichés come fast and furious at times, but the dialogue is smart, the laughs are earned, and the muscle memories it summons of coming-of-age growing pains consistently ring familiar and true. Harrelson’s wry turn as one of Nadine’s sardonic teachers saves the character, who’s a touch too calculated, while Steinfeld is just about perfect in bringing out all the warts-and-all complexities of her angst-ridden youngster. A promising start for debuting director Craig; she also wrote the script.

75/100