The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...