Lady Bird

Lady Bird is a film that follows a seventeen year old girl through her senior year of high school.  She has a father who's struggling to provide for his family, but does what he can to encourage Lady Bird.  She has a mother who sometimes burdens her with the family's problems, but is ultimately preparing Lady Bird for life.  She makes bad decisions when it comes to school, friends, and boys.  What separates this film from the typical "coming of age" teenage comedy/drama is that Lady Bird is pretty well grounded; she knows when she's made bad decisions, she regrets being selfish, and she is sympathetic to her parents' hardships.  While this is a refreshing change from the standard Hollywood portrayal of teenagers, it honestly isn't very entertaining.  Call me shallow, but I prefer Clueless and 10 Things I Hate About You.  Those are examples of films that don't honestly reflect the typical teenage experience, but they sure are fun to watch.  Lady Bird is a well made film which contains a wonderfully nuanced performance by Laurie Metcalf as Lady Bird's mom; but it wan't enough to keep me interested.  I know that life can be monotonous, and I realize that sometimes great films exist to remind us of that, but this didn't quite rise to that level.