Hilary Duff Delivers an Unexpected Performance
Walter Prado
February 18, 2010
Filed under Arts and Entertainment, Movie Reviews, Uncategorized
“She’s a trip, but she’s no vacation” is the tagline of the new independent movie entitled According to Greta starring Hilary Duff as the main character. Greta is seventeen, witty, yet heavily sarcastic. She is “exiled” to spend her summer with her grandparents in a small town on the Jersey shore, “which may as well be a nursing home”, as Greta puts it, while her mother tries to fix her marriage with her third husband (and counting). Greta wastes no time in informing her grandparents of her plans to end her life before her eighteenth birthday. Before doing so, she has made a list (a bucket list, if you may) comprised of things she would like to accomplish before performing this suicide. At the same time, she is also making a list of creative ways one can kill themselves. After single-handedly landing a job at a local restaurant, Greta meets Julie (a dude), a chef and a former delinquent. The two eventually turn their newfound friendship into a summer romance. After finding out about Greta’s plan of ending her life, Julie will stop at nothing to try and stop her from making the biggest mistake of her life. Later in the story, Greta is confronted by a family secret that has been kept under wraps for a long time, which perhaps is the main reason why she contemplated suicide in the first place. Are the love of her grandparents and the excitement of her first summer romance enough to stop Greta from ending her life? Once she finds a way out, can life find its way back in?
Hilary Duff’s portrayal as a suicidal teenager is unexpected taking into account the previous characters she has played in her preceding movies. The former Disney star captures the hearts of her audience as she recites her lines with such passion, feeling and heart. There were some parts where she lost character for a split second; however she jumps right back into the role and continues to blow away the viewers. In this performance, it was obvious her goal was to shed her teenybopper bubblegum-pop image for a more grown up one. After all, who wouldn’t after being type-casted into roles which basically all have the same personality? The audience would definitely be surprised to know that she accomplishes her goal with flying colors. It is safe to say that casting directors will definitely be taking her into consideration for serious and darker roles, unafraid of staining the good-girl next door image she has built up after all these years. In fact, she is set to play the role of Bonnie Parker in the 1960’s remake of Bonnie & Clyde set to come out later this year or early 2011.
Watching this movie allows viewers to contemplate life as well. A message can be taken from this movie: life goes on, and a person with life should go along with it, no matter how big of a struggle it may give you. It is much too precious of a gift to end yourself, and must be lived to the fullest.
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