The bottom line up top: “Edie Arnold is a Loser” is a hilariously irreverent and quirky coming-of-age film that a whole lot of teens (my vote is age 14 and up) will love. That is, if they and their parents are comfortable with some giddy references to erections from nerdy Catholic school girls trying to act cool. Mine may not have been quite as funny, but I sure saw my freshman year in Edie as she sought to find her own unconventional path amid myriad pressures to conform.
The film is screening at the Seattle International Film Festival on May 8 and 9.
Synopsis
With loud echoes of the 2019 dramedy “Booksmark,” Edie follows its awkward and frustrated title character — an underachieving high schooler tired of being formed in the image of a good Catholic girl by her mother and derided by the nun in charge of her school, and who is pushed by her circle of outcast friends to act on her romantic cliché of a crush on altar boy Walter.
As the film starts, Edie would rather be doing anything than playing angelic percussion in church. She wants something to tear her out of the tedium. And she’s not alone in her angst, surrounded as she is by a posse of equally dorky friends, chief among them her best friend Frances, with whom Edit engages in daily rebellions small and large.
A chance ticket to an all-ages concert and an exchange with one band’s dreamy lead singer prompt Edie to tell a lie: She says she’s the drummer of a punk band. That leads the boy to invite her band to play at an upcoming battle of the bands. Which means, of course, that Edie has to start a punk rock band—fast—with her zany, if accommodating, friends. And without her mother finding out. The second act of the film covers Edie’s messy journey from unsure drummer wannabe to hair-flipping drum goddess, with lots of setbacks along the way and at least one mature realization: A conquest of dispicable-if-hunky Walter under the bleachers is not who Edie will ever be. This may be the smarmiest and funniest first kiss scene in teen filmdom.
Will Edie be expelled from the school her mother and grandmother attended? Will she lead her band to victory at the band slam to become the opening band for the Sex Pistols? You’ll have to watch to find out.
What it’s really about
“Edie Arnold is a Loser,” the feature directorial debut of Megan Rico and Kade Atwood, is a stylistic romp that uses animation, fast cuts, and great performances (hats off to a perfectly subdued Adi Madden Cabrera as Edie and off-the-wall nutty McKenna Tuckett as Frances) to put the audience in the chaotic angsty world of teens.
The directors understand that tampons can be funny—and cruel. They tap into the boiling desire of so many teens to break free from the expectations placed on them. The film values friendship—emphasizing the kind that sticks by you even when you disappoint them.
SIFF programmer Alison Jean Smith called Edie Arnold a “siren song for the weirdos, the outcasts, and the underdogs among us.” Perhaps that is the best synopsis.
“Edie must navigate vicious popular girls, dueling crushes, her strict yet loving mother, and her cadre of friends-slash-bandmates,” Smith wrote in her film notes. “Luckily for us, Edie perseveres.”
You and your teens can handle this one
Yes, there are sexual inferences here. But honestly, they of the type that come out of the mouths of babes who have no sexual experience but want to sound cool. No teens had sex in the making of this film, nor does the film.
Yes, the film relies on Catholic school tropes.
Yes, I think it would have been better without these because they weren’t actually needed to tell this story. But, as I said, “Edie Arnold is a Loser” is a movie that tweens are going to flock to and love. Rather than hold them back, go with them. There’s so much food for conversation here!
See the film
Age recommendation: 14 and up (maybe super-mature 13-year-olds). Expect sexual references.
What: “Edie Arnold is a Loser,” directed by Megan Rico and Kade Atwood
When: Friday, May 8, at 6:30 p.m. and Saturday, May 9, starting at 12:45 p.m. at SIFF Cinema Uptown. Get tickets.
Cost: Adults, $20; Students with ID and seniors, $17.
Some questions to ponder together after the film
- List some of the cliches in this film. How do they compare to your school experience?
- Is there a dream you aren’t following either in school or at home?
- How did you feel about the sexual references? Any questions?
- Do kids at your school talk that that/
- What do you think the message of the film is?
- The “Cannibalize” song at the end of the film is infectious and potentially offensive. What do you know about the punk music scene, and how is the song a good fit for its goals?
