The Art of Getting By (PG-13)

THE ART OF GETTING BY

MOVIESAL'S GRADE: D

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
	Freddie Highmore	...	George Zinavoy
	Emma Roberts	...	Sally Howe
	Sasha Spielberg	...	Zoe Rubenstein
	Marcus Carl Franklin	...	Will Sharpe

See Freddie Highmore brood.

Brood, Freddie, brood.

If you like thoughtful dramas about teenage angst, this isn't the movie for you. If you think Twilight was really deep and Deathcab for Cutie speaks to your soul, you might like it. Only you can make that call, but let me try to help you along.

Freddie Highmore is George, a directionless high school senior with a home-life that's in shambles and a killer talent for art. We know he's talented because everyone in the movie tells him so. He's also a slacker who walks through life without doing a single lick of school work. You'd think this would have some kind of immediate consequence, but it garners nothing more than empty threats and clucking from indifferent teachers.  We also know he's deep because he frowns a lot and obsesses about death. Oh, yeah. Also his bangs hang in his eyes. Can we as a society just disabuse ourselves of the notion that brooding and whining equal character depth? And can we please stop accepting scripts in the Kevin Williamson school of teenagers who talk like particularly douche-baggy philosophy majors all the time? For Heaven's sake, they even text in full sentences. When's the last time that happened?

Anyway, the plot is pointless. There's the perfect girl (Emma Roberts), or maybe she isn't perfect. Or maybe she is. Or maybe we just don't give a crap because not a single character in this movie is engaging, authentic, or interesting in anyway. Somewhere along the way, there's a threat  that George's slacker ways will get him expelled from school. I don't want to give anything away, but the plot ends with a graduation ceremony wherein we're not sure whether or not our lead will actually be able to collect his diploma.

His last name is Zinavoy.

I kid you not.

Zinavoy.

Are we really supposed to buy this?

THE BOTTOM LINE:

Entertaining? Hell no.
Enlightening? Maybe if you're six and haven't read Catcher in the Rye or seen a single 80's comedy.

SUMMARY: Boring, dull, whiny, and douchey.