I haven't read the book, but even so, I thought the movie was far from good. It's supposed to be... well, the movie doesn't make that all too clear. We learn that main character Carrie wants to become something else, and that's about it. From reading other comments, though, I've learned that it is supposed to be about a young woman's journey to find herself and face her demons. I'm not sure about WHAT demons...
The movie, in short, is about Carrie's boyfriend Mike breaking his back diving, and Carrie breaking up with him (not because of the injury) and going off to New York to get a life, so to speak. She meets supposedly mysterious 35-year-old Kilroy and they become a couple. Then everybody leads complicated lives for a while, and she finally goes home - although the movie does not reveal for what reasons.
This movie confused me a bit right from the start, mostly because of the very young appearances of the characters; in the opening scenes we see Carrie (Michelle Trachtenberg) and her boyfriend, and him giving her a ring, at the same time as her voice tells the story of their several years long relationship - and the first thought that popped into my head was: "So, you met when you were like 9?" Sadly, in my opinion, she never rises to the challenge of portraying a young woman in this movie, but stays on a teenager-trying-to-act-adult level (it doesn't help that she looks and sounds like 15-16), which makes a lot of her lines and her relationship with Kilroy literally unbelievable. She's too young to play the part.
Meanwhile, Kilroy (Sean Maher) is, I guess, supposed to be this mysterious, secretive handsome stranger, but to me he seems exaggerated and a bit over-acted. Also, there doesn't seem to be the least bit of chemistry between him and Michelle Trachtenberg. I'd guess they were brother and kid sister sooner than lovers.
All in all, the movie felt unnecessary. Nothing that pulled me in and kept me concentrated, but rather something to mindlessly doze to. We never get to see past the surface of any character, and the story is high-paced in a bad way.
