TRY SEVENTEEN (aka ALL I WANT) is probably too mainstream for its own good. But thanks to an attractive cast and a decent screenplay, it hits almost all the right notes. Of course the ending is a tad predictable, and the film falls back on one cliche too many. A little more courage, and TRY SEVENTEEN might have been a memorable movie. As it stands, it's just good, and will most definitely appeal to teens who have experienced what the main character has while trapped in that 4-years (and for some, more) where we all spend our lives while making that transformation from child to adult. I'm talking about college, of course.

6 out of 10

College freshman Jones Dillon (Elijah Wood) drops out after an infuriating first day. As part of his inheritance from his grandfather, he had to attend the his old alma mater. He'd rather not move in with his hard-drinking mother Blanche (Elizabeth Perkins) and he has no memories of his long gone father. He moves out of his dorm room with its annoying roommate and moves into an old house which has been subdivided into apartments. Three of his neighbors are the volatile photographer Jane (Franka Potente), aspiring actress Lisa (Mandy Moore), and gun toting painter Brad. He writes violent fantasies from real life incidents and shoves them all into his luggage trunk.

This indie is directed by Jeffrey Porter. I don't think he's any good. He's trying to be quirky but at times, he's making it annoying. I'm fine with the annoying ska roommate. In a way, he's a bit funny but the couple in the car is way too annoying. Then there are the fantasies. They are guns and sex and very seventeen as in imagined by a seventeen year old boy. It's all a high school fantasy in this movie except Wood and Potente actually achieve some chemistry. Despite the amateurish touches, their romance gets to an interesting place and the movie is worth something.