aurora97
I stumbled upon this movie by accident. I find it really cleverly written. I assumed a woman wrote a script and the credits confirmed my thinking. Due to commercials I was not able to read credits. Completely off topic, but I enjoy reading the opening credits but in my country(Croatia), commercial televisions do not let us read them which I find horrible and rude to the creators of all movies. However, let me return to the movie. Amber Tamblyn is an excellent actress which is proved yet again in this little gem of psychological study on teenage behavior and love problems. It just proves that honesty pays in the long run even among teenagers. I am going to buy this movie. The script is well managed. One can really sense that the script writer loves all her characters and wants to understand them. I would strongly recommend this movie to all of my friends who like well-written scripts.
pdubs10
While the acting is nothing stellar, the real problem with this film is the writing. It tries for the unscripted, natural feel and only succeeds in making it seem unpolished and amateurish. There's nothing to set apart the way that it's filmed and the music selection is a bit over-dramatic.Film-making qualities aside, it still doesn't have a compelling story. It's completely inaccurate and unrealistic and takes itself far too seriously to be a dark farce of the whole clique-of-friends-who-sleep-together. The characters are lacking in any personality except for a few minor roles. It's a shame this film is even associated with Havoc, which is well-filmed and at least has a point to it.
carlos-edge
The problems with this movie begin right at the title: Normal Adolescent Behavior. From it, one may have the impression that it's compromised whether of total immersion in the adolescent world - preferably from their own POV - or of a distant, even cold, analysis of that universe from an older generation's perspective.Well, it tries, but it's neither.In this movie, the teen Wendy (Amber Tamblyn in a solid performance, but compromised by a schizophrenic script) has a group of friends that stands out from the rest for being extremely liberal. Yes, that means they throw lots of parties with group sex, kinkiness, and stuff. The center of the plot, as predictably expected, however, is the process of Wendy's detachment from the group, especially from it's leader Billie (a great Kelli Garner - we actually grow to hate her!), and her falling-in-love-for-the-first-time. To sum up, it's about her becoming "mature".Here we get to the movie's greatest flaw. It clumsily leaps from a highly stereotypical depiction of a group of friends who engage in intimate encounters (i.e. sex) under special rules, to a conservative view of what it is to grow up. Yes, conservative. This schizophrenia shows in the characters' actions and even in the dialogs (as noted by another reviewer here): it simply doesn't make its mind.Why the aforementionedandquoted "conservative"? The growing up process, as the movie understands it, isn't really about Wendy building her own mind, ideas and personality: it's about leaving a group that has lots of sex. I'm not encouraging every teenager out there to have lots of almost-random sex or nothing like that lol! It's just that this movies sees growing up as being accepted by the society - which means conforming to social roles. Which means, again, paradoxically, thinking like the others. Then I ask: did Amber really grew up or did she just conformed to another group's (now the society in general) roles? That is for each one to decide, but MHO is expressed in the triple stars.(Spoiler) Though, the film has it's merits, especially Amber's realization (and courage) to accepting that she can't leave the past behind, even by burning the box. That means that her boyfriend might leave her, making her changing process harder and lonelier (all her social world also needs to be reformulated). Instead of clinging to a man, however, she weakly - but decisively, and beautifully - clings to herself. That choice made me score the movie 3 instead of 2. It starts off from 2 because of Amber's beauty (hey I'm a guy, and she deserves! =) ) (Spoiler/)I've read that this picture is somewhat autobiographical. If it is, it's a problem for the movie: they were HER problems and HER way of dealing with things. Now, from the complicated group to raising to society, it most certainly isn't Normal Adolescent Behavior: It's NAB for mothers. (To make things clear, I'm not yet far from being a teen) In the end, this is movie is a parents' "watch out for who you hang out with, sonny!", hypocritically cloaked in a created daughter's POV.Want to see a closer try of depicting a girl with problem's mind and body (not in the pornographic way)? Watch Thirteen.
cocomo1997
I rented this movie without knowing what it was about, and therefore I had no expectations. The first thing I liked about the movie was that there was a large group of friends represented, and that stereotypes at seemingly been thrown out the window. Of course, the high school representation wasn't very realistic on the whole.I liked the characters, but i thought that the movie could have been so much better if Amber Tamblyn's "Wendy" wasn't the only main subject in the movie. The group of friends is so tight, and they've been together since elementary, so I didn't buy that Wendy's choice to leave the group would cause the friends to disband, seemingly forever. Personally i think a more realistic angle would've been to showcase each individual in the group of friends, as they all seemed to have an interesting back story. The characters Robert and Jonah for instance, are revealed to have been sleeping together at the end. Both characters were practically mute throughout the film. I feel their story could have been explored more. As could've Pryce's insecurities within his tight knit group, and Billie's controlling need for them all to be together. Ann could've been given a bit more depth as well. I feel it would've been more realistic if all their problems were explored and the group disbanded because of all of them, not just Wendy's whims with love outside the circle.Speaking of which, their love didn't seem interesting enough for her to want out of her friend's arrangement so bad. The character Sean just seemed like an ass.Overall i enjoyed the friends together since they all seemed to click rather well, but thought that the plot was poorly done.
