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BaftaBaby 
"Always entranced by cinema."
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 Posted - 08/18/2008 : 16:47:02
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Wild Child
Now that yesterday's bright young screen things are forging their own Hollywood dynasties, it's helpful to detail the pedigree of the young 'uns, without sounding too much like a stud catalogue.
Eponymous heroine of Wild Child, Emma Roberts, daughter of Eric and niece of Julia - continues to dominate the screen as she did in Nancy Drew.
The films could be a whole lot better, but she's a lot more than fine. Wholesome, yes, but really an engaging presence who's quite capable of the transition from Valley Girl to self-aware young woman this script asks of her.
Another dynasty-rep here is screenwriter Lucy Dahl, daughter of Roald and Patricia Neal, though this is her first screenplay. It shows in its old-fashioned narrative and formulaic construction, but is full of enough verve and some funny lines to lift it occasionally from the totally mediocre.
Experienced editor turned director Nick Moore keeps the thing moving, but I couldn't help wondering how many scenes wound up on the cutting room floor. I say this because quite late on in the film I spotted one of the UK's most talented comic actresses Selina Cadell, who popped up in various crowd scenes. She's credited as Mrs Loughton, but unless I was suffering an inadvertant coma as I watched, she doesn't feature anywhere in the plot.
I'm guessing she was one of the teachers at a posh public school [which for you uninformed Yanks actually means a private school] - not a finishing school, but a boarding school for girls. Like high school with dorms and set in a magnificent country estate. The headmistress of this one is Natasha Richardson who welcomes Poppy Moore [Roberts] sent to her by her newly re-married LA Dad, totally fed up with Poppy's teenage idiocy.
We only get one glimpse of the new Mrs Moore, so don't know whether Poppy's malice toward her is justified in any way, and it's not till deep into the film that we discover how disturbed Poppy's been about her mother's death.
Along the girl's journey are a couple of sub-plots including a meet-cute but innocent liaison with Headmistress Richardson's son [Alex Pettyfer, progressing nicely from his Alex Ryder days], a sketchy turnaround for the school lacrosse team, and Polly and her mini-gang's revenge on Harriet, the school prefect and tyrant.
It's the underlying story that's wonky - same old same old. None of it bears deeper a sub-cutaneous look, but quite enjoyable while it lasts.
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Edited by - BaftaBaby on 08/18/2008 16:47:36 |
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Demisemicenturian 
"Four ever European"
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Posted - 08/25/2008 : 02:00:05
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Yep, nothing special but pleasant enough. Re: cuts, I took for granted that (spoiler, just about) the girls would be getting the French and P.E. teachers together a la Clueless, but this doesn't happen.
Pet peeves were the use of Americanisms by British characters (British school years are not called grades) and the school being described as for eleven- to seventeen-year-olds when it would definitely go up to eighteen.
But fucking hell, Alex Pettyfer is looking good. He comes across as a twenty-something actor playing a teenager, but he is actually only eighteen, and was presumably seventeen when it was filmed. Hollywood idol here we come. |
Edited by - Demisemicenturian on 08/25/2008 02:00:35 |
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Demisemicenturian
"Four ever European"
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Posted - 12/27/2010 : 01:22:20
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| There's an error in the thread title by the way, B.B. |
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Wise Child
