Emily Cohn’s debut feature is an uneven, unpolished gem that wears its heart on its sleeve, even when the technical side of the film doesn’t always work.
Using a wonderfully lowbrow take on presenting social media, as well as the game of life, the story follows a trio of BFFS, Izzy (Isabelle Barbier), Fiona (Sadie Scott) and Anuka (Deeksha Ketkar) as they close out their freshman year at a liberal arts school. With one more exam looming, Izzy looks to fulfill a pact she made at the beginning of the year… to lose her virginity.
The answer may lay at a crush party. You can only get invited if someone crushes on you, and Izzy is going. What follows is typical college campus fare brought to life by Cohn’s smart, frequently funny script that resonates with a sense of reality and absurdity in equal measure.
What is fun to see is that this time around, in what would have been a ‘guy’ sex-comedy movie like American Pie even a few years ago, is perfectly re-purposed and made all the more entertaining because of it’s likeable female cast. Barbier brings Izzy to awkward life, and does so unabashedly, making you feel for her, and relate to her at the same time.
Of course, Izzy is so focused on the boy she thinks she likes she doesn’t see the one right in front of her. It’s a recognisable story. What makes it enjoyable is Cohn’s spin. And while I’m not a fan of some of the technical choices, I really enjoyed the spark of life the story and the cast bring to the screen.
Cohn is one to watch. The sense of fun that permeates this film speaks to a real love of cinema, movies, love and laughs.
- Release Date: 2/12/2020
