The story isn't interesting. I'm afraid James Franco's story isn't unique or meaningful and should not have been made into a movie. A few teens taking drugs and acting out. An inappropriate relationship between teacher and student. A few meaningless hookups. Nothing much happens and the story or characters aren't interesting. There is a tendency to pay attention to whatever the Coppola family does on screen. Publicity follows. But take a step back and ask yourself what's the use of a good director when the story is so nothing? Jack Kilmer who looks like a lot like his mother Joanne Whalley gives an insipid performance as a uncharismatic and boring teen. To be fair he didn't have much to work with. Emma Robert's character is a bit more interesting but in the end none of the characters have any meaning.

Don't bother.

Being that this is from a book of short stories (though inter-connected I believe) from James Franco, it's interesting that Palo Alto works as well as it does. At first I wasn't quite sure, and the first half of the movie appears like it'll be just a lot of aimless partying and following 'oh, whatever' teen angst and mishaps; as one girl (Emma Roberts) navigates her own feelings for the boys around her, another guy (Jack Kilmer) gets into car-crash trouble and has to serve community service. Meanwhile, Nat Wolf is like De Niro in Mean Streets transposed into sunny suburban California: a don't-give-a-f*** guy full of crazy - or just a little attention perhaps - and is very likely a sociopath at best.

A lot of this is character stuff, and one could accuse Gia Coppola (daughter of the late Gian-Carlo, grand-daughter of Francis, the latter does a voice of the judge by the way),of doing some of the same middle-upper class navel-gazing as her Aunt Sofia has done in work like the Virgin Suicides or Somewhere. But the good news with Palo Alto is that, after kind of a rocky, ho-hum start, the characters gain some interest, some perspective. It helps that Robert's story involves her soccer coach with a romantic link and played by Franco himself and, whether it's due to his own material or not, he's really good here, subtle, damaged, creepy but not in an overt way, perfectly suburban. And Jack Kilmer's character - as does his performance - grows and deepens over the course of the movie through his work as an artist and in community service.

Palo Alto edges out to be a satisfying experience, though it's more cumulative; you may wonder where this is going after the first half hour and if these self-important teenage-wasteland-ers will be worth following. But I think the creativity in Frano and Coppola's writing is that, meeting them halfway, there's more depth and heartbreak and genuine empathy you get for them as they experience more and more. The most original stuff? Maybe not. At the least it keeps things relatively low-key, and is a revelation for Nat Wolf as the live-wire of the group. It's less about 'oh, don't you feel bad for these well-off people, they have feelings too' than 'these are just people, they're pained, they're growing, give them time before they self-destruct.'

Oh, and Val Kilmer's in it too as an off-in-his-world stoner step-dad. Which is awesome.

Based on James Franco's short story collection of the same title, Palo Alto follows a bunch of privileged, bored high schoolers as they get into trouble because they have nothing else to do. Sometimes these movies can be painful to watch, since the characters are so unlikable and make such despicable choices. Sometimes these movies are too melodramatic, in order to prove a point. This one is extremely realistic, and while parts of it are painful, it's also very educational. My mom didn't make it all the way through, insisting that if that was how kids really acted nowadays, she didn't want to know about it. I do know that bored kids do act that way, but for me, I found it almost relaxing to watch. I'm so relieved I'm not a teenager anymore!

If I had a daughter, I would force her to watch this movie before she entered high school. This is one of the greatest cautionary tales I've ever seen. In one scene, an uncommitted couple sleep together immediately afterwards, the boy gets dressed and leaves, saying unenthusiastically, "This was fun. Peace out." The girl gets a kiss on the cheek when she asks if he'll call her later, and she's left humiliated, disrespected, and devalued. Now, as I always say, it takes two to tango-which is why I would force my daughter to watch this movie. If this movie wouldn't convince her to stay away from boys, I don't know what would.

The main plot revolves around Jack Kilmer and Nat Wolff, two bored friends who do drugs, go to parties, and get into trouble. Jack gets sentenced to community service, but he's just not old or mature enough to really learn from it. Nat has intense emotional problems, and without severe counseling and a great mentor, he'll do so much damage to those he has the misfortune to cross paths with. I think it's pretty obvious that male audiences will enjoy Jack and Nat's scenes the best, and the female viewers-and certainly those in my age bracket-will pick Emma Roberts's and James Franco's scenes as their favorites. This movie doesn't glamorize student-teacher relationships, but instead shows how an unchaperoned girl can get into trouble. Emma comes across as mature for her age, and since Franco is relatively young and extremely cute, he can tell she's the type to seek someone outside her circle and keep her activities a secret. If there's one takeaway from this movie, it's that unchaperoned bored kids will get into trouble. If you still believe in the goodness of human nature, you must not have ever gone to high school.

Kiddy Warning: Obviously, you have control over your own children. However, due to drug use, I wouldn't let my kids watch it until they were a little older.