An Education (2009)

Jenny, a high school good girl, meets David, a smooth, older gentleman and is all-too-eager to be swept away into the exciting, seemingly carefree, life he and his friends enjoy. There were a couple of reasons I fully expected to just love this film. I'm crazy about Peter Skarsgaard and, as a Doctor Who fan, the idea of darling Sally Sparrow getting the lead in an attention-getting movie thrilled me. I also saw the trailer a couple of months before it came out here and it just looked like my cup of tea.

But there was something off about this. I think that the problem could have been that we didn't spend enough time in Sally's "pre-David" life. Supposedly, her father ruled the roost with an iron fist and Jenny had no life outside of school and music practice -- but she so quickly becomes eye-rolling and disrespectful at home that it's hard to believe that Dad ever had any control in the relationship. Another thing was that I was neither appalled nor enthralled by David's attentions toward Jenny -- and it seems as though indifference to the relationship couldn't possibly be what the screenplay intended for the audience.

Great acting and a promising premise somehow came out kind of flat.

B-