When you are away from people you love for a long time, it is easy to forget the little things that you enjoy sharing together. Over the holidays, I got to remember how much I enjoy watching movies with my mom. She is hilarious when the television is on. She just loves to yell at people on the screen, newscasters, actors in commercials, and people in movies. Mostly idiots in commercials. They really rile her up. We also share a mutual favorite when it comes to watching movies, which is watching the trailers before hand. I can't believe Netflix hasn't come out with a disc you can rent that is two hours worth of trailers of a upcoming movies, or movies in one of these recommended genres they try to suggest you add to your queue. I would so rent that. Anyways, while watching trailers for a movie with my mom, I became curious about the film Terri, and added it to my queue.
Terri is a sweet, quiet, sometimes uncomfortable film about a high school misfit who wears pajamas to school every day and attracts the concern of the principal, played by John C. Reilly. I was skeptical about how John C. Reilly would handle the role, he's usually playing an identical goof-ball in most roles I've seen him in. But I think he did a really fantastic job of balancing a really quiet humor and genuine tragic sincerity to portray a well-rounded hero. Unlike so many of the films about school teachers/personnel rescuing troubled kids, he is not a perfect savior (see Freedom Writers the movie), he is also not a colossal screw up who only identifies with the troubled kids cause they're in more trouble themselves (see Ryan Gosling in Half Nelson). He's just a guy who cares and who does not necessarily have it all together. It was a refreshing balance. One of my favorite gifts that this principal character gives to the protagonist is the language with which to speak love into other people's lives. I thought his example was a great example for anyone working with or raising kids.
When you start the film out with an overweight guy wearing PJ's to high school everyday, and see that the principal is going to reach out and try to help him, you kind of expect that in the end, he's gonna loose weight, find an amazing romance with a beautiful popular blond, and show up in the last scene strutting into school with a nice pair of jeans and a proper shirt. Spoiler alert, none of that happens. He also did not transform the school such that all the students started wearing PJ's to class. (I think I was secretly hoping he'd start a new trend, I love wearing PJs!) And I appreciated the subtlety with which the transformation he did experience was actually illustrated. He is changed for the better instead because he learns how to find beauty and love in a way that respects himself and others at the same time. The change is more minor, more genuine, and more beautiful in my opinion.
The film still manages to fit itself into this fairly typical high school drama structure, there is a popular blond female heart throb, for example. But the way the plot handles these conflicts gets much deeper into the interchanges between high school kids. This meant that you came away with a more true insight and there were moments that were almost too uncomfortable to watch. One of the uncomfortable pieces has to do with a little hobby Terri picks up. I found myself conflicted about how to feel about the hobby, weather I was supposed to see this as a sign of how truly troubled he was, or how beautiful and yet misunderstood his "good heart" was. I suppose the ambiguity is intentional and useful for the goals of the film.
So there's my warning. It is not a feel good comedy or standard uplifting drama. I don't know whether I would necessarily encourage someone else to watch it, and yet at the same time, I have to say all in all, I think it was a good production. One claw up, Lobsters. Any other good trailers I should check out?
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