This film is not to be taken seriously and if you do you’re just stupid. Yes, Emo’s are misrepresented. Yes, Christian’s are misrepresented. Yes, everything in this film is a stereotype, that’s the point! It shows how you think, as a stupid teenager, you have to act one way to try and fit in with the group of people you want to be like, but, at the end, I reveals that- wow! You should just be yourself because no one cares if you like my chemical romance but also folk music. No one cares if you’re Christian but have an aptitude for science. It shows that you shouldn’t force yourself to do something because that what you’re ‘supposed to do’ to fit in. Surely you can remember doing something as a teen that didn’t really feel right but you did it because that’s what you thought you had to?
I love every single thing about this film. Most of the songs un-ironically slap, the acting is very cheesy yet perfect in its own right, and the gay side plot was adorable and also heartbreaking. Yes, there should definitely be a trigger warning for mentions of suicide and self harm (I self harm and while it really didn’t trigger me I know not everyone’s the same) and I get why people would be disappointed over the lack of one, but I don’t think that that should take away from the fact this this is, simply put, the peak of cinema.
I apologise for the long review, it’s just I feel as though everyone who gave this film a one star doesn’t understand that no one who watches this, probably no one who was in this, is taking it seriously. Not the stupid stereotypes of ‘all emo’s are depressed and violent’ or of ‘all Christian’s are science hating homophobes’, not the pretending to self harm because it’s ‘cool’, none of it! I actually think this film was well made and felt that, if you put aside the very over dramatic and unrealistic portrayals, it’s quite accurate into how teens think and try and fit in.
My final word: watch it. Do it now. If I could I’d inject this film into my veins, I just adore how stupid it is and how happy it makes me. :)