This is a story of the relationships between Liam, a teen genius, Claire, his smothering mother / homeschool teacher / best friend infinity, and Anastasia, the girl of his desire. While at a high school to write his high school equivalency exams, he spies Anastasia, and deliberately fails in order to force his mother to let him attend public school.
Raised in a social bubble, Liam has trouble navigating school and taking advantage of opportunities with Anastasia. Meanwhile, Claire tries to keep Liam from drifting away by teaching him how to be a rebellious teen.
The characters are well-written, if somewhat over-the-top. One oddity is that the director uses a 1990s vibe, even if the teens busily text each other, while friendless Liam has not attempted to find online friends either.
Adventures in Public School
2017
Action / Comedy
Adventures in Public School
2017
Action / Comedy
Plot summary
Academically bright teenager Liam Heap's best friend truly is his single mother, Claire Heap. In fact, she is his only friend, he, having been home schooled his entire short life by her, not having been exposed to socializing with others his age. Claire is also his protector and controls all aspects of his life in the goal for Liam to become the next Stephen Hawking in attending Cambridge in the Astronomy program after he gets his high school equivalency certificate. Subverting Claire, Liam is able to convince her to let him attend public high school, which she feels is only for losers, she having had to endure the pain when she was his age, until he takes and aces the next available equivalency test to graduate in four months. Liam's true goal in attending high school is to meet and befriend "her", Anastasia, the one-legged girl who would be his classmate and to who he is attracted. That socialization process is not only affected by the deal he and Claire make with the school principal, Mr. Kelly, the only way Liam will be allowed to attend the high school, but also by Anastasia's own socialization, and how Claire will insert herself into it all, not only when he's at school but for any official and unofficial extracurricular activities.
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Top cast
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Amusing high school comedy
quirky
Claire (Judy Greer) is the overprotective single mom of teenager Liam Heap (Daniel Doheny). She is dismissive of public high schools and has been homeschooling Liam everything including sex. He is book smart and headed for Cambridge to study Astrophysics following his hero Stephen Hawking. MacKenzie (Grace Park) is a fellow homeschool mom and Autumn is her even weirder daughter. The kids are at the local high school to take the Graduation Equivalency Exam. Liam falls for public school student, the one-legged Anastasia (Siobhan Williams) and deliberately tanks his test. He pushes his way to be a temporary student taking over sick Maria Sanchez's schedule. Everyone starts calling him Maria. Claire sees this as teenage rebellion and decides to teach it as part of his curriculum.
This is quirky and sometimes funny. Judy Greer is one of the best comedic actresses around. Daniel Doheny is a nice lead but he looks way too good. If anything, this needs more quirkiness. He needs to look nerdier. In general, the whole movie needs more. I love the premise but it needs to shoot for Napoleon Dynamite. There is plenty of potential of achieving that. There is a shocking surreal moment with a fetal pig well into the movie. It needs to do more and earlier or not at all. Either inanimate objects talk to him or they don't. For the students, Siobhan is a great ingenue but the others are lacking. It would have been great if Autumn joined Liam to attend high school. The gay friend needs to be more friend and less annoying. The bully needs to be more buff and younger. He looks like a 80s porn star with a 70s stach. Also, there is a general use of 80s motif like an old computer and an old family car which creates an odd feel in the modern world. The off-centre camera style is also part of that. The lighting is too bright at the school. The editing needs to be sharper and quicker to add pace and quirkiness to the style. It needs to be tighter which would shorten the under ninety minutes running time. The movie needs a few more stories and that's why I would love some more from Autumn. Quite frankly, MacKenzie is fun at the party and the movie needs more of her. There are many very good parts and this works on the whole.
I had a good time watching it.
'ADVENTURES IN PUBLIC SCHOOL': Three and a Half Stars (Out of Five)
A teen comedy about a socially awkward home-schooled teenager that enters public school for the first time, against his mother's wishes, in order to pursue a young woman he falls for. The film was directed by Kyle Rideout, and written by Rideout and Josh Epstein. The movie stars Daniel Doheny and Judy Greer, and it was released by Netflix through it's streaming site. I found the film to be funny and amusing enough. It's definitely nothing fresh or especially memorable, but I had a good time watching it still.