Critic Reviews

Director Max Mayer doesn’t find a way to make the ritual traumas of adolescence feel new again.

Simplistic plotting, pedestrian visuals and poorly-handled melodrama do lend the project a cheap, made-for-TV feel, which is underscored by the fact that Danes and Marsden don’t seem obliged to turn in their best work.

Familiar faces in supporting roles don't do much for the commercial prospects of this modest film, which feels like a made-for-TV version of the prototypical Sundance-aspiring quest for identity.

Just when its parts should come together, As Cool as I Am crumbles to bits.

The film is the cinematic equivalent of a teenager, making everything more melodramatic than it needs to be, and impatient with the subtle details of life.

Though darker elements loom in the shadows, nothing in this painfully sincere film is remotely affecting; just think of it as “My So-Called Strife.”