Flower
Directed by: Max Winkler
Written by: Alex McAulay and Matt Spicer and Max Winkler
Starring: Zoey Deutch, Joey Morgan, Kathryn Hahn, Tim Heidecker, Adam Scott, Dylan Gelula, Maya Eshet, Eric Edelstein
Comedy - 90 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 18 Mar 2018
Written by: Alex McAulay and Matt Spicer and Max Winkler
Starring: Zoey Deutch, Joey Morgan, Kathryn Hahn, Tim Heidecker, Adam Scott, Dylan Gelula, Maya Eshet, Eric Edelstein
Comedy - 90 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 18 Mar 2018
The respective children of Lea Thompson and Henry Winkler went out and made a movie together, and it feels like one of the darkest comedies in the last five years. Perhaps not American Psycho dark, but Bad Santa level. Thompson’s daughter, Zoey Deutch is already a well-known actress with an impressive credit list and Max Winkler tackles his second feature after jumping around TV comedy land. Flower is unique among coming-of-age films where the 17 year-old has already lost her innocence and may just about regain some of it by completing her character arc. Flower is also an echo of the 1980’s teen comedies but with a female lead, I mean one who was not goody-two-shoes Molly Ringwald.
Erica (Deutch, Rebel in the Rye) is one of those teenagers doing all of the things people imagine bad teenagers are doing like extorting male authority figures through fellatio. In real life, the bad girl is usually far less intriguing than the world makes her out to be, but in Flower, Erica says a penis is just a finger without a fingernail. Answering the uniformed cop who just finished in her mouth where she learned to give a hummer so well, Erica matter-of-factly says “middle school”. No, Erica is not a kid, but she’s not an adult either. Still riding her bike around town and more focused on candy and junk food than paying bills, Erica is an adolescent playing grownup.
Erica (Deutch, Rebel in the Rye) is one of those teenagers doing all of the things people imagine bad teenagers are doing like extorting male authority figures through fellatio. In real life, the bad girl is usually far less intriguing than the world makes her out to be, but in Flower, Erica says a penis is just a finger without a fingernail. Answering the uniformed cop who just finished in her mouth where she learned to give a hummer so well, Erica matter-of-factly says “middle school”. No, Erica is not a kid, but she’s not an adult either. Still riding her bike around town and more focused on candy and junk food than paying bills, Erica is an adolescent playing grownup.
Erica’s dad is absent and there are wishful thoughts of saving up enough extorted fellatio money to bail him out of jail. Her self-proclaimed daddy issues are why she gives her mom's boyfriends such a rough time. Robin Williams diagnosed this sort of abandonment issue in Good Will Hunting - she would rather hurt someone and push them away before ever giving them the chance to make her feel pain. Erica’s journey is to come to terms with the idea of strength through vulnerability. Williams and Matt Damon did it a lot better, but then again, they were Boston tough guys, these are snarky kids from the San Fernando Valley.
Erica considers herself a badass vigilante and excuses what she does through the guise of feminism. Look at the double standard. Many of her school mates consider her an at rick slut, but if some guy was going around extorting middle-aged ladies through cunnilingus, he would only be dubbed morally ambiguous. The plot’s catalyst to slowly draw Erica back from the dark side is her new step-brother, Luke (Joey Morgan). Luke is an overweight anxiety attack waiting to happen, just the sort of human punching bag Erica’s sharp tongue is made for.
Mom and new step-dad (Kathryn Hahn - Bad Moms and Tim Heidecker) practice a more hands-off parenting approach but discover a certain discipline together than they ever had apart. Mom knows about Erica’s relationship between fellatio, power, and money, but her New Age parenting style is to let kids be kids. However, the sperm for money schtick is not about sexuality, it’s quite transactional. If men really were as forthright, monogamous, and trustworthy as they claim to be in their Sunday church services, then Erica would not have an Excel spreadsheet full of names and dollar signs. Flower is not a warning and borderline horror story about having teenagers like Thirteen, nor is it doused in drama and tragedy. It is pitch black comedy. We shouldn’t be laughing at a 17 year-old girl sucking off cops and suspected pedophiles, but it’s just so funny.
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