The Art of Getting By (2011)

It is a scary thought for a film-reviewer to think that he has lost his sense of telling right from wrong. And I had that fear, because watching this right after watching the much-chagrined Apollo 18, I had to wonder-was there something wrong with my taste? Because I did enjoy that film, and I enjoyed this film too, which was also not a critical darling to say the least. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not praising this as a perfect film, in fact, I will probably only see this film one time, but due to my ratings scale of 6.5 or higher is positive, and 6 or lower is negative, I do consider this to be a good film. Written and directed by Gavin Weisen, The Art of Getting By stars Freddie Highmore and Emma Roberts as two high-schools students in their last year of school before they try to head off to college. Where the film works is the bulk of it, where we see their relationship struggling to move farther than friendship, despite the fact that both of them are just too shy and childish to admit it. I’m starting to wonder if I only like this film because I am Freddie Highmore’s character in this film. Lazy, smart, childish, and grew up watching one-too-many romantic comedies on TV when I/he was bored. It could very well explain my fondness of the character, and by that, my fondness of the movie. Because what I like about this movie boils down to nothing more and nothing less than its two main characters. Emma Roberts and Freddie Highmore are both very good actors, heck sometime around ’05, I wanted to be Freddie Highmore, and then he dropped off of the face of the Earth, and we all know this story. But they are both very good here, and their characters are both very good here, and their relationship is very good here. But I cannot stress this enough-that is the only good thing about this film. There is a subplot in here about Freddie Highmore passing senior year, and I didn’t care. There are other characters and other relationships, of which I did not car, because I had no reason to care. This movie is a movie about these two central characters, and how their relationship furthers over the years. And if this sweet little movie had realized it, people wouldn’t be hating on it. Now, I may just be losing my taste for failure, but I have to say that The Art of Getting By is not a bad film, it’s just not a decently good film.
6.5/10