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Writer: Chad J. Shonk
Director: John Humber
Dakota Skye has a cool concept, but ends up being boring.
Source: IMDB.com
The coming of age story of a seventeen year-old girl who has a super power. Dakota Skye has the ability to see through any lie that is told to her. The combination of knowing the truth behind every lie throughout her life and the fact that she is seventeen has lead to her become bitter and apathetic. When Jonah, her boyfriend's best friend from New York, comes into town and doesn't lie, it shakes up her world and causes her to re-examine her own life.
The Review
To be honest, I expected something like Juno, and I got it. Dakota Skye as a character is about as bitter and jaded as they come, and like Juno, narrates the story although in more depth. When watching her, you can't help but think that this film was financed after Juno (god I hate repeating that) blew up the box office and walked away with a very undeserving Screenplay Oscar.
The film itself is decent, but nothing to write home about. The little quirk about Dakota being able to see through people's lies is done pretty well and provides a few funny moments (people's truths are shown while the person is lying, almost like a subtitle). Some of it, like the guy mistaking lust for love, is something I agreed with and thought that was actually something clever and honest to say.
The actors and the look of the film scream student film to me. It is shot well and everything, but you can tell the film is low budget and it looks like something college students whipped together. The actors, some of them having done some Hollywood things according to the all-seeing eye of IMDB, feel like they were plucked out of a high school drama class and while that's great for authenticity, the emotional message of the film is not carried off well as these actors do some seem capable of handling it.
The story is very cut and dry: quirky teen hates boyfriend, quirky teen falls for new guy, random "deep" conversations, yadda yadda. It's all been done before, and does not change my mind on how annoying independent adolescent comedies are.
If you really loved Juno (and I know people did *sigh*), then this is worthy of your attention as it shares many thematic similarities and the main character of Dakota is pretty much a less pretty and more whiny version of her. If you hated Juno and can only take quirky indie in very small doses, I would not bother with this film.