One of the movies that was showcased during the final Dollar Movie Night by Campus Programming and Relations was The Edge of Seventeen, written by first-time director Kelly Fremon Craig.

Every year, many films are produced that are centered on the lives of high school teenagers. Usually they portray these teenagers as overly dramatic and unintelligent. The producers of these films give the characters very peculiar vocabulary that they assume every teenager uses, when in actuality they don’t. But once in a While a hidden diamond can be found among the dirty rocks. Recently, there have been films like The Duff, Easy A and Superbad that truly capture a glimpse of the lives of American high school teenagers. We can now add The Edge of Seventeen to that list.

Honestly, I came into the theater with little knowledge of the film and I was worried about the portrayal of high school teenagers. Some things that ran in my mind were how they were going to handle teenagers’ “colorful language’’ and if the plot was really about the main character’s best friend dating her older brother.

I was pleasantly surprised when right off the bat the audience was introduced to these characters with the proper lexicon. The film itself is rated R so they weren’t restricted on what they could say. Shits, fucks and dicks were words that were often used.

Now, the plot itself isn’t entirely about a friend dating her best friend’s older brother. It is about family and finding a purpose in life. It answers the question, what happens when the family member that is the glue that held everyone together suddenly leaves?

The film centers on the life of Nadine Franklin, who is portrayed by Oscar nominated actress Hailee Steinfeld. Ever since Nadine’s father passed away, she had to survive with a family that revolved around her golden boy older brother, Darian (portrayed by Glee’s Blake Jenner). Nadine believes that Darian’s life takes more precedent over her own since her neurotic mother (portrayed by Golden Globe winner Kyra Sedgwick) always sides with her brother.

Nadine identifies as a loner whose only best friend is Krista (portrayed by The Bronze’s Haley Lu Richardson). Nadine’s life is thrown off when Krista starts dating Darian. Nadine starts to feel more and more lonely so she befriends the new student at her high school, Erwin Kim (newcomer Hayden Szeto). Nadine starts experiencing new things that she normally wouldn’t do, while relaying these new experiences to her high school history teacher (portrayed by Oscar nominated actor Woody Harrelson).

What makes this film superb is the fact that it deals with lots of issues that normal teenagers face that adults generally sweep under the metaphorical rug. It ranges from the death of a parent, to high school relationship and crushes.

I highly recommend this movie. It has a perfect mix of dick jokes and drama that everyone loves.