This film is getting a 9 based soley on the completely misleading promotion.
I went into this expecting a love story between Carter Webb (Adam Brody) and Lucy Hardwicke (Kristen Stewart). I was expecting a dramatic age-gap romance with an ending about his having to go back to Los Angeles.
What I got was a totally confusing love hexagon that ended up not being about love at all.
Carter just got dumped. So he decides to go to Michigan to live with his grandmother (who is by far the best and most interesting character) and ends up becoming really close to the women across the street.
While it was moving, touching, and all that good stuff, I left the theater with one thought in my mind. "What the hell just happened?" It was fantastic. I would highly recommend it. However, I would not recommend expecting what I did. Don't go into this hoping that the trailers and poster (which show a lovely romance between Carter and Lucy) ring true to the film. That is not at all what the story is about. It would make a great film, in my opinion, and I still wish it had taken that direction, but sadly it did not. While still fantastic, you should expect a film about real people (with many flaws and weaknesses that humans have, like the inability to to stand up for themselves) not a movie like "She's All That" where the two young, good-looking people fall in love with an epic romance.
That is not this film. Go see it. But see it to see a great study on characters, not story.
