Wild Child

Dir: Nick Moore - feature film directorial debut
Cast: Emma Roberts, Natasha Richardson, Linzey Cocker, Kimberly Nixon, Juno Temple, Sophie Wu, Georgia King, Alex Pettyfer, Aiden Quinn, Shirley Henderson, Nick Frost
USA/UK/France, 2008

Seen: November 22, 2009 on DVD

Reason to see: Female centric teen comedy, yep I'm there.

It is so refreshing to see a teen comedy with a female protagonist, especially one whose life doesn't revolve exclusively around 'getting the guy'. Poppy (Emma Roberts of Nancy Drew) isn't perfect by any means, she can smack talk her way through any scenario and of course being 16 and living in Malibu she's obsessed with clothes, avoids carbs but is also entertaining to boot.

The previous mentioned smack talk and wild behaviour get her sent away from pools and sunshine to the British boarding school. The chaos begins as this fish out of water has a unique take on how to deal with her new scenario, which is one of the great things about the film. It isn't always predictable and it doesn't always take the easy route. Poppy has he own fair share of problems but tries to come to terms with them, sometimes with the the help of her new roommates and sometimes just one her own. It really is great to see a film about a girls journey, where the majority of the characters are girls and women, and although there is a romance angle the overall themes are about friendship and finding yourself.

The film has a great supporting cast, although I would have loved to see more Shirley Henderson (Moaning Murtle from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets & Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) as the uptight Matron, and there is a great cameo from Nick Frost (Hot Fuzz).

I'm very curious who to what age group they are targetting for this one as they main character is 16, and it feels like it's probably targetting a younger crowd than that but there certainly are a few more adult references. Usually this kind of teen school story is either played super light for younger audiences, or much more raunchy and adult with a possible horror angle. In fact, watching it highlights that so rarely to we see a film centred on teen girls just being teen girls. Any adult behaviour is cleverly masked so that younger audiences will not get the references, which is pretty ingenious as it expands the possible target audience quite a bit.

DVD Extras include: The Making of Wild Child, deleted scenes, head girl tour, school memories and more

Shannon's Overall View:
I enjoyed it
I'll watch it again
I'd recommend it as fans of school dramas & teen comedies

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© Shannon Ridler, 2009