Genre Grandeur June Finale – The First Time (2012) – Tranquil Dreams

 

For this month’s next review for Genre Grandeur – High School/Teen Romance Movies, here’s a review of The First Time (2012) by Kim of Tranquil Dreams

Thanks again to Kim of Tranquil Dreams for choosing this month’s genre.

If you missed any of them, here’s a recap:

This month we had 16 reviews for GG:

1. 10 Things I Hate About You (1999) – Darren
2. Easy A (2010) – Drew
3. Pretty in Pink (1986) – Reut
4. A Cinderella Story (2004) – Natasha
5. The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2006) – Darren
6. A Walk to Remember (2002) – Kim
7. A Walk to Remember (2002) – Darren
8. Say Anything (1989) – Eddie
9. From Up on Poppy Hill (2011) – S.G.
10. The Fault in Our Stars (2014) – MovieRob
11. Ocean Waves (1993) – Darren
12. Footloose (1984) – S.G.
13. William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet (1996) – Anna
14. Clueless (1995) – Carly
15. Easy A (2010) – Steven
16. The First Time (2012) – Kim

Thanks to everyone who participated this month!

In addition, I watched and reviewed 6 additional movies from this genre for my Genre Guesstimation series.  2 of them will be now included in my own favorites of the genre.

1. Say Anything (1989)
2. Grease (1978)
3. Empire Records (1995)
4. A Walk to Remember (2002)
5. Can’t Buy Me Love (1987)
6. She’s Out of Control (1989)

Next month’s Genre has been chosen by Reut of Sweet Archive.  We will be reviewing our favorite dark comedies. Please get me your submissions by the 25th of July by sending them to darkcom@movierob.net  Try to think out of the box! Great choice Reut!

Let’s see what Kim thought of this movie

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The First Time (2012)

 

Director: Jonathan Kasdan

 

Cast: Dylan O’Brien, Britt Robertson, Craig Roberts, Victoria Justice, Lamarcus Tinker, James Frecheville, Joshua Malina, Christine Taylor

 

Dave and Aubrey meet spontaneously outside of a party that their friends brought them to in the most awkward situation; while Dave was reciting his speech to confess his love to his crush, Jane. After Aubrey’s interruption and the party being cut short because of cops, they rush off together and as they talk more they become more intrigued with each other.  Over the weekend, they start seeing each other more and their attraction grows gradually.  They even start thinking about giving each other their “first time”.

The First Time is a quirky little teen romance film lead by young stars, Britt Robertson and Dylan O’Brien.  It explores the ideas of finding yourself and the strength to letting go of your comfort zone at the same time as the importance of “the first time”.  These all make this film extremely relevant to the whole teen romance genre.  Although there are certain cliches that do show up during the movie and its basically a quick succession of events as it rolls through the weekend of how the relationship of Aubrey and Dave grows, there is a chemistry that is undeniably there.  Its this chemistry that makes The First Time so awesome.  As Aubrey and Dave get to know each other, we grow to connect with their characters. I’m not in high school anymore and I never had that experience first hand but first love, feeling attracted and clicking with someone else or simply finding the courage to step out of our comfort zone and be with someone else is a hurdle at any age.  For that, this movie has sincere and believable performances from Dylan O’Brien and Britt Robertson who bring us back those feelings.  Their experience resounds a good part of the real deal in young love and connects with its audience.

 

At the same time, The First Time adds a nice little cute factor there.  It brings in a little bit of the outside but also the speed of the relationship kind of brings in a lot of passion and spontaneity which makes it really fun.  Learning about someone but feeling awkward about sharing your opinions and wondering if you’ll get judged is all something that I feel that more times I watch The First Time.  There are the friends factors that influence the way we think no matter how absurd their ideas are and how crazy it all sounds but sometimes its also those friends that give you that reality check, like for Dave.  These friends bring in a bit of additional silly humor.

Despite the name, The First Time doesn’t quite hit the sex issue until we hit the climax of the movie.  Its what is the turning point.  While “the first time” is usually linked to teens, which makes it a very relatable topic for teen romances, there’s something different here.  This time, we get a real look at what the first time means before and after.  Its not a spoiler that we know it will happen but to take a sincere close look at how the first time can not be what we expected and looking at whats important in relationships and love.  That is what I found the best about The First Time.

Overall, I can praise The First Time forever.  Once I turn on this movie, I at least rewatch it 4 times before I tuck it away.  The best and outstanding part of this teen romance is all in the awkward attraction and interaction and amazing chemistry between our main characters, Dave and Aubrey.  The second is the build-up of both being in separate situations and liking someone else but finding the courage to deal with their own feelings.  The third is the themes in this movie extend through sex, love and relationships for their first time and finding the courage to be yourself.  They are all relevant to teen romance and that is what makes this one a perfect candidate for this month’s genre grandeur.