The First Time Synopsis: A shy senior and a down-to-earth junior fall in love over one weekend.
At a party where he plans on telling his crush how he feels, Dave (Dylan O’Brien) meets Aubrey (Britt Robertson), a junior in high school who helps him build up his confidence. The two share an evening getting to know one another, which eventually leads to Dave and Aubrey spending the night together, fully clothed, of course. Meeting Aubrey confuses Dave’s feelings for his friend Jane (Victoria Justice), while Aubrey begins to question her own relationship with Ronny (James Frecheville), a lazy, anti-everything d-bag.
This is a pretty by-the-book high school romance. But director Jonathan Kasdan does a pretty good job of introducing some fresh ideas regarding high school students losing their virginity. Whereas we see the big moment becoming ridiculously silly or incredibly romantic and perfect, The First Time aims for realism in that the first time is not always everything it’s cracked up to be. In fact, it can be downright disappointing.
But does that mean you’re not meant for that person? Or is it just a matter of, you know, getting a bit more practice until things, er, work the way they’re supposed to?
That’s probably the one aspect of this movie I enjoyed, besides Dylan O’Brien and Britt Robertson. The two actors were charming together and had a decent amount of chemistry, but I’m not sure it was enough to pull off the earnest, sometimes silly dialogue.
There really isn’t much going on in the movie, and the plot is pretty straightforward. The conflict wasn’t incredibly easy to overcome, so there was no doubt about how the film would end. Obviously, with most romances, we always know how it will end, but I want to see the journey more than anything else, and I fully expect the journey to have a few road bumps. I didn’t get much of that from this movie.
Dave and Aubrey’s love interests are both vapid and one-dimensional, so we know they’re never a serious threat to keep Dave and Aubrey apart. There was potential with Jane, but Victoria Justice’s character had no depth or personality. We never really know much about her friendship with Dave beyond what Jane tells Aubrey briefly at a party. I found Ronny to be a caricature, someone who was supposed to be the comic relief, but he was more obnoxious than anything else. I could have done with less of that character.
The First Time has been on my watchlist for a long time, and while it had some cute moments, I found myself disappointed. The potential was there; it just failed in execution and left me feeling a bit more ‘meh.’
Watched: 11/12/2020
Notable Song: Vampire’s Kiss by John Gold
