The To Do List
2013 · Directed by Maggie Carey
Original language: English
- comedy
- romance
The story
Feeling pressured to become more sexually experienced before she goes to college, Brandy Klark makes a list of things to accomplish before hitting campus in the fall.
What it’s like
Bright, sun-saturated early-nineties suburban summer, rendered in warm, slightly overexposed daylight: pool water glare, chlorine-blue shadows, cut-off denim and sticky afternoon heat, with cheerful pop-leaning needle drops that undercut the awkwardness on screen. The camera stays close and unfussy, mostly handheld medium shots and tight two-shots during its dry, deadpan exchanges, letting the comedy sit in faces and pauses rather than in set pieces. The vibe is sweetly sarcastic and mildly chaotic, a coming-of-age comedy with a flat, knowing wink. Its pacing is brisk and episodic, built on escalating embarrassments and a frank, often crude sexual humor that stays talky rather than graphic. Sexual content is frequent and explicit in dialogue, with some partial nudity and awkward, non-explicit encounters; violence is minimal and played for laughs. The emotional register is wry but warm, following a driven, prickly teenage girl who learns that her own rules for growing up are rarely the ones that matter. Best for viewers who enjoy raunchy, dry-witted teen comedies and want a summer-set story about nerves, ambition and first-time mess-ups.
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