After (2019)

After review by Mark McPherson - Cinema Paradiso

Sometimes a forgettable drama that seems more at home on television or a bargain bin of DVDs sneaks into theaters and you wonder why. When I saw After, I had to double-check the press notes. Surely this was some sort of prank. How could such a timid, melodramatic and deeply boring teen drama slip into the theater? But then one line caught my attention on the poster and revealed all; “Based on the Bestselling Worldwide Phenomenon.” Countless times I’ve seen this phrase tacked on teen dramas and they’re almost always a terrible sign. After proves this theory.

Tess is the new girl at college and isn’t sure if she’s ready for such a new experience. She’s the classic small-town girl who is in for a big surprise with college life that’ll challenge her good-girl behavior and old-fashioned sense of romance. She didn’t expect that her roomate would be a bit of a bad girl. And by bad girl I mean a woman who drinks at parties and has sex. She also didn’t expect her new love interest of this picture, the rebellious Hardin, to first be seen in her dorm room after she just got out of the shower. How embarrassing. And then he tries to one-up her in literature class by showing off his contrarian reading views? Gee, I’m sure this kind of relationship won’t work.

After is the kind of coming-of-age and coming-out-of-the-shell teen drama that locks itself so tightly within its tracks there’s no real sense of surprise. Tess has a nerdy best friend at college who she talks with constantly and even arrives early to class with. A love triangle, perhaps? Not a chance. Remember, this film is based on a sexy teen drama and part of that formula demands that the two attractive leads are seen together sexually, usually with the guy’s shirt off. Of course, there must be an obligatory moment where Hardin will take off his shirt and Tess can blush. And what better place to do so than a dip in a lake. Perhaps they can share a kiss while some tepid romance melody plays them into a sex scene.

The film is posed as that of a woman discovering a new world but how new is it? She learns to drink and has sex. That’s not to say such an experience isn’t worth noting but this picture presents the sexual awakening as her seemingly only awakening. And it’s all presented so predictably that you can set your watch to the moment they break up and have a long montage of feeling blue while more mellow music strings the audience along. Perhaps there is something to be said of their relationship when most of the time we see Tess and Hardin together, they’re slowly getting into the act intercourse.

I’m willing to admit that I’m not the demographic for a film like After but with the way it’s presented, the films gives off the vibe of a not-too-trashy romance picture for the good-girl teen who wants to get only a little bit dirty. This is the story of a woman who when getting to college doesn’t really expand her perceptions on her philosophical or political views but rather learns to loosen up in a way that timidly and shyly tiptoes on the wild side, where all sex scenes seem to come with a country guitar and droning lyrics. It’s tepid trash that is as meek with its observations of sexual awakening as it is boring with its two dull leads who were clearly not hired for their brains.