Kids in Love (2016) Reviews

• Will Poulter Graduates From The School of Comedy

  alan_hart2016-10-08

  Having watched Kids In Love last night, and quite enjoyed it, I thought I would log onto IMDb and see what others thought of it. But nobody else had seen fit to review it. Nobody. Not a single review. And I thought that was rather unfair, so here I go. It's not bad. The acting is solid, the script is pretty good and the characters, whilst not entirely likable, are developed reasonably well. So far, so-so. However, it is Will Poulter as the protagonist, Jack, that elevates the movie above the mediocre. He really is a credible actor these days, and I really enjoyed his performance in Kids In Love. I guess, at its heart, Kids is basically a coming of age movie, but it has a lot of heart, and I genuinely cared that things would work out for Jack. However, I am not so sure about Alma Jadorowsky as the ethereal Evelyn. Yes, she is attractive, but I did not feel that she exuded the "je ne sais quoi" (it's okay, Evelyn is French) that the script demanded. That said, the London locations are fun, and although things became a little predictable in the last twenty minutes (as these sorts of films generally do) I must confess that I was left with a smile on my face. Undemanding, but enjoyable.

  More

• A film that felt made for the middle class youth who live off their parents money

  azanti00292016-12-10

  I watched this because I am big fan of Will Poulter, an extremely naturally gifted actor & he so he is here but struggles with the material he is given. Poulter plays Jack, born of middle class Nottinghill parents who plan for him to take an internship with a friends law firm as soon as he is back from taking a gap year of travelling with his friend Tom. Jack meets Evelyn, a French girl visiting London, whom for reasons unknown strings Jack along even though she has an on/off boyfriend who can only be some sort of pimp / drug dealer though what he does is never clearly explained. Through meeting her he goes clubbing to secret hedonistic places where young posh kids go, who don't work, have threesomes and do drugs. It's all very pastel colours and warm tones. Jack has an interest in old school photography, befriends some sisters who seem to own a 'come and go as you please' mansion while their parents are away and meets an assortment of odd other characters. Some arguments are had and some friendships are tested and that's about it really. The script is almost entirely devoid of any real drama save for a couple of heated rows with the parents and his best friend. Coming of age dramas and films about first young loves can be engaging but sadly this film isn't in that category. It's only real saving grace is Poulter who plays the stumbling Jack with an appropriate level of blind confusion. Adequate casting in terms of the parents is provided by stalwart actors such as Pip Torrens and Geraldine Sommerville, but the rest of the cast find it hard to make their mark. The script lacked any real characterisation (Perhaps these kids are just that bland, and that was the point?) and I just really wasn't interested in the petty dilemmas of these spoilt rich kids. At the end of the films running time I felt I barely knew any of the characters any better than I did when the film had started apart from Jack, whose own journey seems to have taken him no where. Perhaps that was the point of the story, that they were all so vacuous that Jack was better off where he had started, than with meeting them at all. Be that as it may, it did make the film somewhat pointless. It says much about a film where the most memorable moment is a scene with a guy who sits on the sofa and says nothing.

  More

• Privileged morons...

  Howlin Wolf2017-09-05

  A festival of unlikable characters. Espouses the worldview that it's OK to turn your back on anyone who's ever supported you or made sacrifices for you, if you get a whiff of an exotic alternative lifestyle. Perfect for spoiled trust-fund babies who believe they don't owe anybody anything, and that nobody else *gets* just how windswept and interesting they REALLY are. Rather than stay at a commune with them, I'd prefer to just dump them all on an island, and leave them stranded!

  More

• Too vacuous

  Prismark102017-02-01

  What better contrast to those urban gritty dramas about young Londoners set in the tower blocks than Kids in Love which is about posh young Londoners living in Notting Hill or similar. Will Poulter plays college student Jack taking a gap year, do some work and earn money to travel to south America with his friends. Like a lot of teenagers he is unsure of what he wants to do with his life but he certainly does not want to do an internship in a law firm that his father has arranged. What he does engage in is a bohemian lifestyle partying in London, taking drugs and having sex and falling out with his friends, because now he does not want to go travelling. This turn of events is caused by meeting French free spirited artist Evelyn (Alma Jodorowsky) who lives in a rundown Hackney townhouse with other alternative arty types such as Viola (Cara Delevingne) and Evelyn also has an on/off boyfriend who also might be a drug dealer. Refreshing as it might be to see a different perspective of Londoners (the white middle class type.) There is little drama and little that happens in this coming of age tale where Jack's loyalties with his friends are tested. A good natural performance from Will Poulter is the only recommendation in this empty story.

  More

• What was the point of this film?

  scott_thompson74542017-01-24

  Came across this snoozefest on Sky Movies and gave it a chance because the lead actor was good in Wild Bill. He tries his best here but struggles with a lifeless script and by the numbers direction. Anyhoo, the plot (what there is of it)...Boring posh boy from London wants to find himself during his gap year, but his parents would rather he joined a law firm (oh, boo hoo). Said drip then starts following around a bunch of boring posh boys and girls, after he gets the hots for a cute but boring French chick who comes out with profound things like, "I don't want to spend my life doing something I don't like. It's not always easy." And they say homeless people have it tough! Nothing much happens after that. End of film.

  More