Daydream Nation (2010)

Sex. Drugs. Murder. These are the issues that the teenagers in the newly released on home video film Daydream Nation are dealing with. Kat Dennings (Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, Thor) stars as Caroline Wexler, a complex and intelligent yet troubled young lady who is new in town, and is quick to make an impact.

Caroline and her father have made a habit of moving from town to town, so Caroline is used to being the new girl, and all of the negative talk that is associated with that. At her new high school, Caroline is surrounded by stoners. The only one who gives Caroline the time of day is Thurston (Reece Thompson), one of the aforementioned stoners. Thurston tries to win the heart of Caroline, but she has her eyes on someone else.

That someone is Mr. Anderson. It is never a good sign when a teenager is in a romantic relationship with a character named "Mr." Josh Lucas (Life As We Know It, The Lincoln Lawyer) portrays Anderson, a thirty-something teacher whose similar distain for everything in town wins Caroline over. The two begin an affair, but as you might expect, it turns out not to be a match made in heaven.

Initially Anderson appears to be suave and sophisticated, but as the film rolls along, he is revealed to be as confused and unstable as the lost teenagers he is supposed to be guiding.

Kat Dennings does very well in the lead role. She caught our attention first as Norah in Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, and excels once again in a much darker role. She proves she is more than capable of carrying a film.

Josh Lucas in also quite good as Mr. Anderson. His transition from cool as a cucumber to nutty as a Snickers bar involved quite an acting challenge, one that Lucas passed with flying colors.

Daydream Nation is an interesting watch, but it just didn't live up to my expectations. I had heard comparisons to Juno, and to the works of David Lynch. The characters and situations aren't nearly as engaging as the ones in Juno, and while the film does feature some of the moodiness and imagery associated with Lynch's films, it also falls far short of that level. I enjoyed the love triangle between Caroline, Thurston and Mr. Anderson, but once Caroline and Anderson's relationship ended, so did much of my interest in the film. The first two-thirds are entertaining, but the conclusion was flat. There is a subplot about a serial killer that factors into the story in the end, but it wasn't nearly as interesting as the main storyline.

While the last act may be lacking, I'd still recommend checking out Daydream Nation for the winning performances from Dennings and Lucas. Overall, Daydream Nation is a film that does more right than it does wrong.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars