The audience is left with over-the-top and obscure plot points that could have been left out to give Reinhart’s character a chance to show how one handles a traumatic event as a young person. “The fact that she’s none of those things and yet attracts Henry is so interesting to me and beautiful.”īecause the story is told through Page’s perspective, Town’s murky past is suffocated by a focus on Page’s desire to make her love him. “I really appreciated the fact that I could play the romantic lead as a woman in something that I wasn’t playing the stereotypical appealing, cute, funny, charming girl,” Reinhart said in an interview with the Chronicle.
Grace Town carries flowers to place on her ex-boyfriend’s grave after he died in a car crash. Martens-wearing, Arctic Monkey-listening, “leave me alone” type of girl. There is something fresh about Reinhart’s character Town-she is edgy, but not the cliché, Dr.
He tries to play the hero and heal Town of her past-like one of his many kintsukuroi vases-but he quickly learns people cannot compare to broken pottery fixed with gold lacquer. So while my heart ached for Page as he continuously pined for Town like a sad puppy, the chemical reaction to his heartbreak, such as the decrease of hormones dopamine and oxytocin, was fully expected and unsurprising-as explained scientifically by his sister’s doctor-like pep talks. Perhaps one of the first hard lessons of young love is that love alone cannot make the feeling mutual. Quotes like, “Adults are just scarred kids who are lucky enough to make it out of limbo alive” and “Scars are not reminders of what’s been broken, but rather of what’s been created,” had me struggling not to groan out, “Yes, we get it! Some infinities are bigger than other infinities.” Much of the “profound” dialogue between Page and Town screamed “The Fault in Our Stars” but with an emo twist. “You are never more alive than when you’re a teenager,” Page says at the beginning of the movie-the first of the many maxims yet to come. The two are a weird pairing romantically, but their opposite personalities set the mood for the perfect, stereotypical teenage melodrama trying hard not to fit that mold.
Page, a simple, good-hearted and sheltered character juxtaposes Town, who is edgy, yet introverted with a painful past and is initially uninterested in Page’s affection. This is why when I find a coming-of-age film, I look for moments I relate to so I can say, “Finally, someone understands what it is like to be a teenager.” Unfortunately, “Chemical Hearts” was not that film.īased on the book “Our Chemical Hearts” by Krystal Sutherland, the film follows the quasi-romance between high schooler Henry Page, played by Austin Abrams, and Grace Town, played by Lili Reinhart, as they work together on their high school newspaper as co-editors-in-chief and fall deeper into a love affair. Courtesy/Cara Howe/Amazon StudiosĪs a young adult, I am well acquainted with how difficult navigating one’s teenage years can be-like not wanting to be placed at the children’s table for Thanksgiving dinner, but then stuck sitting across from the wine-drunk adults, unable to enjoy a glorious sip of Sauvignon Blanc. By Paige Barnes, Audience Engagement EditorĪugAustin Abrams’ character, Henry Page, and Lili Reinhart’s character, Grace Town, are introduced by collaborating on their high school’s newspaper.
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