Strange teen romance in which a high school student
(Angourie Rice) falls for a spirit who inhabits the bodies of different people
for a day at a time, originally encountering the androgynous sprite when it
takes over her normally self-absorbed and inattentive boyfriend (Justice
Smith), transforming him into the kind of caring companion for which she
naturally longs. Director Michael Sucsy's screen version of David Levithan's
novel, which also features Owen Teague as the classmate the protagonist ought
to be dating, sends the honorable, if less than original, message that
relationships should be about more than surface attraction. But this theme
entails a further subtext suggesting that gender differences are an
insignificant factor where matters of the heart are concerned. Taken together
with the script's indication that physical interaction before marriage is a
given, and that Christians are devil-fearing fools, that implicit agenda item
makes the film unfit for its target audience of adolescents.
Watch out for: A
denigrating portrayal of Protestant Christianity, a benign view of homosexual
acts, two off-screen premarital bedroom encounters, an adultery theme, a
same-sex kiss, at least one use of profanity and several crude and crass terms.
Rated:
A-III, adults; MPAA: PG-13
© Arlington Catholic Herald 2018