Coming of Age: As Cool As I Am

Title: As Cool As I Am

Writer: Pete Fromm (novel) Virginia Korus Spragg (screenplay)

Director: Max Mayer

Major Actors: Sarah Bolger, Thomas Mann, Claire Danes, James Marsden

Released: 2013

Plot: 16 year old Lucy Diamond (Bolger) a pretty and unpopular tomboy, spends her days hanging out with her best friend Kenny (Mann) and re-creating recipes while watching Mario Batali in her kitchen. She thinks her family life is pretty cool because it’s an unconventional family. Her father Chuck (Marsden) is gone months at a time working as a lumberjack in Canada. Although her parents are married, she has been raised entirely by her mother Lainee (Danes) who had Lucy at age 17. Lucy sees her Dad when he comes home unannounced to visit, usually for a week and then he’s gone again. After a subtle kiss, Lucy and Kenny’ relationship changes from platonic to “friends with benefits”, they decide to abstain and wait. Lainee, who works as a telemarketer (unbeknownst to Chuck), has an affair with a colleague. When Lucy and Kenny officially consummate their relationship, Kenny tells Lucy that he is being sent to live with his Dad but Lucy doesn't believe him. Upset that she cannot reach him the next day, she goes to a party with two of the popular kids at school and is raped by Justin after having too much to drink. After many apologies for his part in the party night’s events, Lucy becomes friends with and eventually begins a sexual relationship with Justin’s sidekick Tim. Chuck finds Lucy and Tim when he arrives home unannounced again, has a fight with Tim and slaps Lucy in anger. Chuck finally realizes after an argument with Lucy is no longer his little girl and his trips home appease no one but himself. Lainee decided that she needs to find herself and leaves (with Lucy’s blessing) to run off with her high school boyfriend Ron to Puerto Vallarta promising to return in 2 weeks. In the kitchen of Ron’s sisters’ restaurant, Lucy finally cries and decides to cook to ease the pain of all that she’s been through. She meets Ron’s Dad (Peter Fonda) with whom she is to stay with until her mother returns. They share the meal and some conversation.

Story: Lucy learns about life, sex and food and discovers that her family may not be as cool as she thought.

The film,in my opinion,was presented chronologically. This aesthetic choice contributed to the general effect on the audience because we needed to see Lucy’s sexual progression. By doing such, the audience was able to see that Lucy was far more mature than most kids her age. I believe that her culinary skills showed us her maturity as well. How many 16 year olds watch cooking shows and create lavish meals? Most teens pop a Hot Pocket or frozen pizza into the microwave and consider that "cooking".

Foreshadowing impacted the storytelling when the director used the opening scene for Lucy to explain how she and Kenny define families as either stable or the real people that we are related to.

If the film had followed a different presentation style, the audience may have learned more about the background of the characters. If Chuck was an orphan he should want to be a hands on father to Lucy, but he wasn’t. Why? I read that in the novel, the author gives us the true reason why he is away from home so much but this was not addressed in the film. The book also addresses Lucy’s “transformation”. In the book, she wore her hair short but after having sex, she let her hair grow out, wore make up and became popular. In my opinion, if the film was presented non-linearly, more of the backstory of the characters could have been addressed.

References

"As Cool as I Am." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 09 Aug. 2014.

          "As Cool as I Am 2013 Ll Kenny & Lucy Kiss Scene." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 09 Aug. 2014.

Goodykoontz, B., & Jacobs, C. P. (2011). Film: From watching to seeing. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc. 

"Plot vs. Story | Cinemoose.com." Cinemoosecom RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Aug. 2014.