The post Dear David Review – A Single Premise Can’t Save Outdated Chemistry & Questionable Morals appeared first on Ready Steady Cut.
Directed by Lucky Kuswandi, we review the Netflix film Dear David, which contains no spoilers.
During the last years, netflix has become the home of choice for mostly high school-specific teen movies. While some of them reach the heights of To all the boys I’ve loved before or last year Revenge, most of them are below average. It’s an easy genre to do wrong, and unfortunately the Indonesian Dear David falters despite its unique premise.
Dear David Review and Plot Summary
Dear David opens like To all the boys I’ve loved before done, with a fantastic sequence of our protagonist and his crush. However, Dear Davidof Laras (Shenina Cinnamon) writes naughty fanfiction about herself and soccer star David (Emir Mahira) in various situations. The student body president is also known for being the pet of an impeccable teacher who attends the expensive private school on a scholarship that her single mother is very proud of.
Between helping the principal, staying on top of her classes, and going to church with her mother, Laras doesn’t have much time left for a social life – so she indulges in her fanfiction in which she imagines herself in various encounters. in love with David. He’s not only a talented athlete at school, she also knows him at church, and their parents encourage their shy friendship.
However, when a school computer fails to properly log out of Laras’ account, one of his classmates leaks the URL of his fanfiction blog. David is embarrassed, although the steamy writings make all the girls in school obsessed with him. Laras is mortified and terrified that anyone will find out she is the author, especially as the administration launches a puritanical witch hunt to find out who is behind the stories.
The blame falls easily on Dilla (Caitli North Lewis), Laras’ former best friend and “class s**t”. The rumors spread about her by one of the popular boys of their year and the somewhat outrageous photos she posts on her Instagram have ostracized Dilla despite her good looks. But Laras feels guilty when she realizes her former friend is in danger of being kicked out for something she didn’t even do.
This is a teen drama, so of course there has to be a love triangle. Laras loves David, but he harbors a flame for Dilla and asks for Laras’ help to get closer to her. The events that arise from this situation take us on a series of truly creative twists. Unfortunately, the film is unable to hold the landing, letting Laras off too easily for writing inappropriate works about one of his classmates and posting them publicly.
The film isn’t interested in examining whether Laras is actually right about the fanfiction she created, instead treating it as a problem of the administration trying to end young women’s sexuality. So despite the way the film treats an anxious character and one who is LGBT+, it leaves a bit of a bad taste in my mouth.
Is the movie Dear David good?
Dear David looks promising in the first 45 minutes, with its unique premise and decent performances from Cinnamon and Lewis. Unfortunately, the characters have stale chemistry together, and the film goes on far too long, overstaying its welcome for at least thirty minutes too long.
Despite the other ways he provides positive portrayal for characters not seen often enough in this genre, the way he blindly excuses Laras’ behavior is concerning. Netflix definitely has plenty of teen dramas to choose from, so you can skip it. Dear David.
What did you think of the 2023 Netflix movie Dear David? Comments below.
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The post Dear David Review – A Single Premise Can’t Save Outdated Chemistry & Questionable Morals appeared first on Ready Steady Cut.
