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Screen Spotlight Featured Reviews

The Art of Getting By

Written by Jonathan Jacobs

The Art of Getting By is an agonizingly brilliant picture. It reminds me of my experiences as a misguided and reckless teenager. There was so much raw potential but so much reclusiveness and shyness and repressed emotion. I have always related better to the intelligent and artistic crowds than I have with the spoiled, "whatever, like, you know, as if" dimwits. Freddie Highmore and Emma Roberts are strange bedfellows indeed but they are nevertheless a perfect match. The Art of Getting By is so much more than a typical coming-of-age drama, it is fiction truer than the truth.

George Zinavoy (Freddie Highmore) is approximately halfway through his final year at the Morgan Preparatory Academy when he stumbles on somewhat of a game changer. This something is no mere object, it is a someone, and her name is Sally Howe (Emma Roberts). While George is reclusive, diffident, and bitterly sarcastic about the future, Sally is upbeat, exciting, and wildly modelesque. Despite their obvious differences, their inner cores are aligned and both of their lives are headed on a crash course.

George's father pays for his tuition but he resides in Asia and is removed from his life. This leaves his two primary influences as his struggling mother Vivian Sargent (Rita Wilson) and his embattled step father (Sam Robards). Vivian and Sam are having marital troubles and they are growing evermore financially desperate. While their drama is unfolding, George is wandering through life with a dangerous attitude. He is coasting through his senior year with failing grades, and he rarely applies himself. It is clear that George is brilliant and artistic but he is rigidly closed and reluctant. Digging a deeper hole for himself, he is caught smoking on school grounds, which, according to his magnanimous principal Martinson (Blair Underwood) is an offense for which he may be expelled. Noticing a comely girl smoking in the background, George deflects the attention toward himself exclusively to save her from being punished. This random happenstance earns George his first friend in years, and a beautiful prospect as well.

Sally is no maiden, that's for sure, but she has an abundance of qualities that separate her from other girls her age. Her mother (Elizabeth Reaser) is quite the coquette. She is recently divorced and engages in indiscriminate sexual encounters. Her behavior sets a wretched example for her confused daughter. Familial struggles and challenges are what cause Sally and George to appreciate one another on such an intimate level. Common struggles breed trust and friendship.

Sally introduces her new friend to her friends (Will and Zoe), and then proceeds to flirt with George incessantly. They are virtually inseparable but Sally always seems to mingle with other men around him, including his new artistic mentor Dustin (Michael Angarano). This drives him bananas but he is always too guarded to reveal his feelings to Sally. Being that George is young and impressionable and inexperienced, she has to make all of the moves. He wants to be romantic with her with every fiber of his being but he is insecure. When she finally offers him the keys to the kitchen as it were, he freezes and wrecks the best thing that had ever happened to him. In his defense, Sally teased him mercilessly and then proposed to be romantic in somewhat of a direct way. This embarrassed George who wanted to take things slowly. His shocked silence causes a rift in their friendship and Sally becomes involved with Dustin behind his back.

All the while, George is forced to stop floating through life as though there are no consequences. His mother is financially ruined and she is going to be divorced. This causes him to step up and to finally take responsibility for himself. He completes more school work than I ever thought possible and finally unleashes his artistic passion to create an artwork so heartfelt and meaningful it might well make you smile, or openly weep.

The Art of Getting By is a moving film that brought me to the brink of tears a few times. It is not the usual teenage drama queen episode. It presents a rich and compelling story with two young shining stars, Highmore and Roberts. I highly recommend it for those of you that are artistic and are sensitive and imaginative. I do resent the ending of the film, but I have never been a fan of love triangles, they frankly sicken me.