Roze-Rating: 4 / 5

We’re first introduced to Luke attending the funeral of his grandmother, and immediately we can tell that she was his main caretaker and most likely one of the only people that truly cared about him. We soon find out that he suffers from autism which is what prompts the main themes of the film. What I liked about this movie is that it could have easily been sympathetic and depressing but instead it takes a character we should all feel sorry for and surrounds him with opportunity, dreams and jokes. It’s down to earth and offers thought out laughs rather than cheap ones.  It’s a surprisingly upbeat film with a lot of moments to laugh about making this one of the better comedies of this year.

With the abuse Luke gets from his family during the films opening I was expecting something that would be hard to watch, but it helped the film in a way as we see his family warm up to him as soon as he moves in with them, because well, family is family. It ends up being an overall charming and sweet film with a coming of age essence.

The film isn’t special in terms of cinematography or performances, where it triumphs is its script.  It’s a shame as that bit extra in making this film look a little prettier and thorough with its performances could have made this a lot more engaging. Lou Taylor Pucci plays Luke, he gives him an odd voice that gradually grows on you but his social anxiety is captured perfectly. The better of the performances comes from seasoned actor Seth Green, also one to grow on you. Really wished he’d come back to make more movies again instead of spending his time doing cringy sitcoms (Dads). As for other performances, they were average, characters we have seen before.

Coming of age films seem to be gaining in popularity nowadays. I think they are hard to get completely wrong unless you have a director that doesn’t know what the film is going to be. It seems like having a troubled character facing defining moments in their life in order to change positively really gets to people as they can easily be very relatable. It’s not a bad thing because I love these type of films but it would be a shame for the genre to start getting over crowded just like this film hasn’t gained any recognition. It will probably be one of those films that gets out over time.