The Art of Getting By

Movie: The Art of Getting By

Genre: Drama

Synopsis: George (Freddie Highmore) is a very bright high school senior. His problem is that he thinks too much.  A few years earlier, he read that “that you are born alone, die alone and everything else is an illusion”. Since reading that, he cannot get motivated to do anything . . . he does not see the point.  As a result of his lack of motivation, he is close to getting expelled from school.  Complicating things is the tensions with his mother (Rita Wilson) and his step-father.  George meets a girl, Sally (Emma Roberts).  Although she is MUCH more worldly than George, they become good friends.  He was in love with her from the first time he saw her, but could not bring himself to say anything to her.  The movie follows him as he tries to repair his relationship with his mother, tries to make up a year’s worth of school work in order to graduate, and try to figure out what to do about Sally and his feelings for her.

My two cents: I have been a fan of Emma Roberts since “Nancy Drew” (2007) and a fan of Freddie Highmore since “Finding Neverland” (2004), so I went into this movie with high hopes.  Both of these actors are still firmly on my “A” list.  There is just something about Freddie that I really enjoy.  George and Sally made a great couple.  I got a kick out of watching both of them struggle to figure out what kind of relationship they each wanted with the other.  The scenes between George and his principal (Blair Underwood) were well done.  The principal could see the wasted potential in George, while George was disarmingly honest in his self-assessment as simply not being able to get motivated to do his school work. Needless to say, I really loved this movie.

[106]