Movie Review: Twilight, Starring Kristen Stewart

Twilight is everything a 14 year-old girl will want it to be.

It is, above all, faithful to its roots. Stephenie Meyer’s book of the same name featured a dangerous vampire protagonist and dabbled often in death, but it was ultimately a story of unbearable, insufferable teenage love. The book’s narrator, Bella, painstakingly (and for those of us who are long past the first throes of a middle-school crush, somewhat mind-numbingly) detailed her obsession’s every glance toward her in the book’s first hundred pages or so.

The film, to its credit, equally embraces the awkwardness of young love, making it one of the most successful teenage films I’ve seen in years.

The film’s director, Catherine Hardwicke, knew exactly where to focus. Teenagers have been her subject matter of choice for some time now: her critically acclaimed film Thirteen (co-written with one of Twilight’s stars, Nikki Reed) was a painful exploration of one girl’s teenage experience, replete with tongue piercings and cheap alcohol. The infinitely lighter Twilight faltered only when it strayed from its own finely-tuned awkwardness (helped along by Bella’s penchant for stumbling into everything in sight). Rare action sequences and special effects came off unintentionally funny, with the exception of the fun, expertly-soundtracked baseball scene.

Newcomers Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattison deliver noteworthy performances, their chemistry strong enough to justify the rumors that the couple is involved in real life. Billy Burke, who played Bella’s father Charlie, was also a scene stealer. As in many teen films, however, the rest of the cast was stuck in fairly undeveloped, one-dimensional roles: shy girl with glasses, loud girl with breasts, annoying school paper editor, etc. But that one-dimensionality somehow works when a film is set in high school, a time when archetypes seem especially relevant.

Twilight is definitely worth seeing, especially if you’re a twenty-something woman who wishes to recreate the feeling of her first Backstreet Boys concert. See it on a Friday night. Revel in all the young’uns gussied up in their goth prom finery. Don’t be alarmed to hear high-pitched squeals the first several times Edward appears on the screen, nor the hallmark tones of hyperventilation during the almost-sex scene (don’t worry, it’s definitely PG-13). Take it for what it is: a sweet, dorky movie about impossible love.