I'm an easy-2-please kind of a person. With all the crap coming out of Hollywood, all I ask these days is that movies DON'T SUCK. I don't ask that they be good. This movie fails to meet even that low standard I've set. Hollywood crap would be better.
Various reviews below pointed out the movie failed because of this or that. Whatever the reason, it isn't even a half-decent after-school special.
Flaw #0: The movie just drags. If this weren't a HBO's Project Green Ligh (PGL) production I would have changed the channel after 15 minutes (30 minutes max).
Flaw #1: I guess the main point of using "new" directors is to get a fresh look and style that studio films lack. The standard studio look and style would have been a plus. The "look" couldn't be blander, boring even.
Flaw #2: The main character (Kelly) is an unlikable smart-mouth / smart-a**.
I think they were trying to portray Kelly as quick-witted tortured soul but failed miserably. Sometimes there's that kid in every high school who is going through some undeserved hardship and you sympathize with him/her. But then there's that smart-mouth a**hole who deserve all the trouble he/she bring onto themselves. Kelly is that a**hole. Why would I care for his troubles?
Flaw #3: the climax of the film (where he is kissed by an older woman and then eventually emotionally hurt by her) is so short and thin I almost missed it.
Flaw #4: there's nothing new. Style is... no style. The main character (Kelly) is in conflict with his parents. Kelly gets into trouble at school because he is an outsider. He loves a girl/woman who is out of his league. Kelly is tormented by a school bully. Kelly takes revenge on the bully via some "smart", unique and a clever way. Another girl has a crush on Kelly but he doesn't seem to notice her. Yada, yada, yada...
Flaw #5: the story is told in such a way that I can't identify with anybody's pains. Not the main character (Kelly), the older woman who's marrying a man she doesn't love, the mother who is troubled by the schism between the father and the son, the father who might be dying, the friend who's life is already planned out by his father, more Yada, yada, yada...
Flaw #6: The actor Shia (Kelly) over acts every scene. I read in other review how good his acting is in this film, but I strongly disagree. His over acting isn't obvious as the cheesy double takes in a comedy, but still bad. Compare his acting with the young actors in "Stand by me" and you'll agree that it is bad.
=== If you look at other reviews below, there is a large cluster of positive reviews early in the movie's release. I suspect these are people who:
(1) are fans of PGL,
(2) are fellow filmmakers who sympathize with the difficulty of directing a film,
(3) were expecting a train-wreak like the first PGL's "Stolen Summer" but got something "better",
(4) got caught up in the PGL's "opening night" fanfare.
Almost all later reviews are very negative, in contrast. Go do the math.
Even if you get a chance to see this movie on cable TV "for free"... don't bother. It is a complete waste of your 1.5 hours.
