Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

How can you not love a Flower that blooms into such moments of unexpected tolerance as this?

A rare commodity

Flower: An honest, brave, and bracingly comic look at adolescence from Max Winkler.
Flower: An honest, brave, and bracingly comic look at adolescence from Max Winkler.

A minor, eager to raise her pappy’s bail money, offers to exchange video evidence — footage of her engaging in sex acts, secretly recorded by two accomplices — for trips to various ATMs with her adult co-star. If the mere thought of this premise acting as a springboard for aweless dark comedy offends, you might find yourself allergic to Max Winkler’s fresh-cut Flower.

The bond between mother Laurie (Kathryn Hahn) and her only child Erica (Zoey Deutch) is such that Mom has nicknamed her daughter “Mom.” The girl, for her part, will do anything for her mother — short of allowing her to happily remarry. Erica doesn’t understand the appeal of Sherm (Tim Heidecker), mom’s choice in replacement fathers, which explains in part her eagerness to spring deadbeat dad from the pen.

Yes, that is Tim Heidecker of Tim and Eric fame, terrific as Sherm, Laurie’s betrothed and Erica’s doofus stepdad-to-be. Like us, he knows that the actor hasn’t been born who can stand up to Kathryn Hahn. (No matter how bad the movie — and she’s appeared in many a stiff — “Hurricane” Hahn is always worth watching.) So he wisely underplays, until finally, one of Erica’s insolent cracks toward Mom causes him to take offense. How can you not love a Flower that blooms into such moments of unexpected tolerance as this?

Sponsored
Sponsored

It’s hard to blame Erica for her attitude. A little (lot?) of mom’s brazenness has rubbed off on her kid, and Sherm’s boy Luke (Joey Morgan) is coming to live in her house. The slovenly lad views life as a prolonged panic attack, and it comes as no surprise that the minute she meets her freshly rehabbed future stepbrother, Erica’s flash-reaction pegs him as “Fat as f@&k, a weird drug addict, and very gay.” In spite of this feeling, or maybe because of it, Erica uses sex not only for purposes of extortion, but as a how-do-you-do. Within hours of meeting Luke, Erica is offering him a BJ.

Do we know Zoey Deutch? She first crossed our radar in Beautiful Creatures, aka the young-adult novel (YAN) franchise that thankfully never was. She quietly stole scenes, playing self-consciously prim Shadia opposite Aubrey Plaza’s brazenly immoral Lenore in the otherwise unwatchable Dirty Grandpa. Cast as Daddy’s little girl, she outshined the pants off both James Franco and Bryan Cranston in Why Him? Add another notch to her acting belt. Whether she’s bouncing on an arcade dance machine or an old man’s lap, Deutch embodies this all-American teen with a comic style and ferocity frequently lacking in today’s movies about kids today.

Queen bitch Erica’s approach to Luke begins to soften, even blossoming into friendship once his sexual abuse at the hands of a teacher is made known. Just don’t expect sentiment or sympathy. Flower is that rare commodity in today’s superhero-driven cinema, and unless I’m forgetting something, one has to go back as far as Igby Goes Down to find an honest, brave, and bracingly comic look at adolescence such as this.

This is the second feature for Max Winkler, and a last name like that means one of two things in showbiz circles: your father’s first name is either Irwin or Henry. Give yourself ten points if you guessed the latter. Winkler’s characters change and adapt, but they never lose their vulgar edge. I had a lot more fun watching this band of miscreants go about their day than I did the overflow of happenstance plastered across Three Billboards.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Didja know I did the first American feature on Jimi Hendrix?

Richard Meltzer goes through the Germs, Blue Oyster Cult, Ray Charles, Elvis, Lavender Hill Mob
Next Article

Angry Pete’s goes from pop-up to drive-thru

Detroit Pizza sidles into the husk of a shuttered Taco Bell
Flower: An honest, brave, and bracingly comic look at adolescence from Max Winkler.
Flower: An honest, brave, and bracingly comic look at adolescence from Max Winkler.

A minor, eager to raise her pappy’s bail money, offers to exchange video evidence — footage of her engaging in sex acts, secretly recorded by two accomplices — for trips to various ATMs with her adult co-star. If the mere thought of this premise acting as a springboard for aweless dark comedy offends, you might find yourself allergic to Max Winkler’s fresh-cut Flower.

The bond between mother Laurie (Kathryn Hahn) and her only child Erica (Zoey Deutch) is such that Mom has nicknamed her daughter “Mom.” The girl, for her part, will do anything for her mother — short of allowing her to happily remarry. Erica doesn’t understand the appeal of Sherm (Tim Heidecker), mom’s choice in replacement fathers, which explains in part her eagerness to spring deadbeat dad from the pen.

Yes, that is Tim Heidecker of Tim and Eric fame, terrific as Sherm, Laurie’s betrothed and Erica’s doofus stepdad-to-be. Like us, he knows that the actor hasn’t been born who can stand up to Kathryn Hahn. (No matter how bad the movie — and she’s appeared in many a stiff — “Hurricane” Hahn is always worth watching.) So he wisely underplays, until finally, one of Erica’s insolent cracks toward Mom causes him to take offense. How can you not love a Flower that blooms into such moments of unexpected tolerance as this?

Sponsored
Sponsored

It’s hard to blame Erica for her attitude. A little (lot?) of mom’s brazenness has rubbed off on her kid, and Sherm’s boy Luke (Joey Morgan) is coming to live in her house. The slovenly lad views life as a prolonged panic attack, and it comes as no surprise that the minute she meets her freshly rehabbed future stepbrother, Erica’s flash-reaction pegs him as “Fat as f@&k, a weird drug addict, and very gay.” In spite of this feeling, or maybe because of it, Erica uses sex not only for purposes of extortion, but as a how-do-you-do. Within hours of meeting Luke, Erica is offering him a BJ.

Do we know Zoey Deutch? She first crossed our radar in Beautiful Creatures, aka the young-adult novel (YAN) franchise that thankfully never was. She quietly stole scenes, playing self-consciously prim Shadia opposite Aubrey Plaza’s brazenly immoral Lenore in the otherwise unwatchable Dirty Grandpa. Cast as Daddy’s little girl, she outshined the pants off both James Franco and Bryan Cranston in Why Him? Add another notch to her acting belt. Whether she’s bouncing on an arcade dance machine or an old man’s lap, Deutch embodies this all-American teen with a comic style and ferocity frequently lacking in today’s movies about kids today.

Queen bitch Erica’s approach to Luke begins to soften, even blossoming into friendship once his sexual abuse at the hands of a teacher is made known. Just don’t expect sentiment or sympathy. Flower is that rare commodity in today’s superhero-driven cinema, and unless I’m forgetting something, one has to go back as far as Igby Goes Down to find an honest, brave, and bracingly comic look at adolescence such as this.

This is the second feature for Max Winkler, and a last name like that means one of two things in showbiz circles: your father’s first name is either Irwin or Henry. Give yourself ten points if you guessed the latter. Winkler’s characters change and adapt, but they never lose their vulgar edge. I had a lot more fun watching this band of miscreants go about their day than I did the overflow of happenstance plastered across Three Billboards.

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

SDSU pres gets highest pay raise in state over last 15 years

Union-Tribune still stiffing downtown San Diego landlord?
Next Article

How to Get Legal Assistance When Your Car Accident Insurance Claim is Denied?

Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.