And now we’ve finally taken it too far. Oh, I’ve run the gamut of teen romance mingled with teen tragedy. The Fault in Our Stars, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, Five Feet Apart, The My Little Pony Movie… Every picture a delicate balancing act of the lofty and the depressing. Instead of a sine wave-type progression in which hearts are raised, then broken, then raised, then broken again and again and again, All the Bright Places took more of a bell curve type progression which made me adore the film during its long climb to the peak of romance and then steadily fell down the cliff of depression when the film suddenly remembered that 55 minutes was probably too brief for a feature length film, and, by golly, shouldn’t there be some conflict in here somewhere?
Finch (Justice Smith) is out for a jog when he sees Violet (Elle Fanning) standing on the railing of a bridge. He’s like us; he doesn’t know why she’s there; he doesn’t know what to do; he only knows she’s in trouble. It’s awfully early in the morning early, let’s face it, Violet is oddly put together for a girl interested in suicide. Do most suicides go for hair and makeup in the pre-breakfast hours before getting to business? Somehow, I think not. What do you do when you suspect a suicide? Finch climbs onto the rail and participates; no reason Violet should have all the fun.
As meet-cutes go, well, it’s unique.
Perhaps what I loved about All the Bright Places is Finch doesn’t give up. In any other circumstance, I’d call his actions “stalking” or toxic male behavior, but here it feels different. For one thing, the standoffish (and if you’ll forgive the description) shrinking Violet really is crying out for help even if all of her verbal actions say otherwise. For another, Finch ain’t exactly Blane from Pretty in Pink. Not far from failing out for constant delinquency, Finch has his own mountain of difficulties to ascend. While outwardly congenial, Finch has demons, too. Violet is exactly the project he needs to make his life sane; Finch is exactly who Violet needs to bring her back to the living.
And now all they need is a fabricated excuse to hang out together. Oh, but this is a high school movie. Literally every scene introduces a bad excuse to foster a romance. The one the kids settle for is a dual report on the wanders/wonders of Indiana. Hey, this could be terrible! Are they gonna visit the grave of L’Il Sebastian? The Indianapolis 500? Is there a tribute somewhere to Henry “Indiana” Jones, Jr.? The part of the film that explored hidden Indiana and hidden romance was wonderful. After that, however, I was unimpressed.
All the Bright Places is one of the rare cases in which the film the writers wanted to make was not a good as the one that would have made the film blander and more conventionally popular. Instead, Bright Places banked too heavily on our love of tragic teen romance and this time we got burned. I loved the film for its peaks, two lovely performances, great chemistry, and very moving romance, but the valleys really bring the film down. And for many, the depths will overshadow the heights. Considering the high point of Indiana is only 1,237 feet, the heights are easily swallowed.
Modern romance: teens, illness, *sigh*
All is warm before we end with a cry
What if, at a glance
Comes the horrible chance
That both kids manage not to die?
Rated TV-MA, 107 Minutes
Director: Brett Haley
Writer: Liz Hannah, Jennifer Niven
Genre: Tragi-teens
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Jennifer Niven
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Disappointed romantics
