The Education of Charlie Banks (2007)

Finally, something I can rave about. I loved this movie. From the beginning narration to the end. This is exactly the kind of movie I love, a coming-of-age movie, well written, awesome performances and not a big budget cheese fest. I was surprised to see in the opening credits that this was the directorial debut of Fred Durst (lead singer of Limp Bizkit). As usual, this was in my queue for boys, in this case my boyfriend Jason Ritter, and my new crush Jesse Eisenberg. Good gracious I love talented boys. I fell in love with Jason Ritter a long time ago, but more recently was really impressed by his performance in a movie called Peter and Vandy (which I loved). Slight spoilers ahead:::: So Jason Ritter plays Mick, a kid who has always been in trouble (the movie spans several years)for various things, mostly intense fighting. Jesse Eisenberg (who helps tell the story in narration) plays the title role of Charlie Banks, who turns Mick in when he nearly kills two guys in a fight at a party, but later takes back his testimony when his best friend Danny stresses that whoever turned Mick in is in serious trouble. Fast forward a few years to college where Charlie and Danny are still friends and roommates and,(surprise!) Mick shows up there. Thats all I will say about the storyline except that it never lost me. There is a cute love interest, played by the adorable Eva Amurri (daughter of Susan Sarandon). The music was good, it fit the scenes perfectly. I just really liked this. I can picture this story being a book I would have read in high school, that I would be praying would get made into a movie. Oh also...this movie takes place in the 1970's which sometimes can come across as over the top in films lately...this was very authentic. I can definitely recommend this one.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0783515/