''Remember the Daze,'' originally titled ''The Beautiful Ordinary,'' is a 2007 drama film released in theaters in April 2008. The film was directed by
Jess Manafort. The plot of the movie has been described as "a glimpse into the teenage
wasteland
Wasteland or waste land may refer to:
* Desert or barren area
* an uncultivated area of land, whether wooded or not, whether common land or not
Art, entertainment, and media Comics
* ''Wasteland'' (DC Comics), 1987–1989 anthology-style horror/ ...
of
suburbia
A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include Commercial area, commercial and mixed-use development, mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a ...
1999 that takes place over 24-hours, and the teenagers who make their way through the last day of high school in the last year of the past
millennium
A millennium (plural millennia or millenniums) is a period of one thousand years, sometimes called a kiloannum (ka), or kiloyear (ky). Normally, the word is used specifically for periods of a thousand years that begin at the starting point (ini ...
."
The film was selected as one of the eight films competing in the Narrative Competition at the 2007
Los Angeles Film Festival
The LA Film Festival was an annual film festival that was held in Los Angeles, California, and usually took place in June. It showcased independent, international, feature, documentary and short films, as well as web series, music videos, episod ...
which took place June 21-July 1. This was the world
premiere of the film.
In February 2008, the movie's title was changed from ''The Beautiful Ordinary''. It was released in two theaters in LA, one in New York and one in
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
on April 11, 2008 and was released on
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...
on June 3, 2008. The movie was filmed primarily in
Wilmington, North Carolina
Wilmington is a port city in and the county seat of New Hanover County in coastal southeastern North Carolina, United States.
With a population of 115,451 at the 2020 census, it is the eighth most populous city in the state. Wilmington is t ...
during May 2006.
Plot
On the last day of school in 1999 several suburban teenagers decide to get high and party. Julia Ford (
Amber Heard
Amber Laura Heard (born April 22, 1986) is an American actress. She had her first leading role in the horror film ''All the Boys Love Mandy Lane'' (2006), and went on to star in films such as '' The Ward'' (2010) and '' Drive Angry'' (2011). S ...
) feels frustrated because her boyfriend has failed his final year of school and must repeat it. Unsure whether or not to stay with him she decides to try to hook up with her friend Stacey Cherry's (
Marnette Patterson
Marnette Provost Patterson (born April 26, 1980) is an American actress and singer.
Early life
Patterson was raised as an only child by her mother in Los Angeles, California, where she was born. Her name is her mother's middle name: Marnette. ...
) abusive boyfriend hoping that by sleeping with him Stacey will finally leave her boyfriend and Julia will figure out whether or not she wants to stay with her own boyfriend.
After her friends tease her about never having a boyfriend Brianne (
Melonie Diaz
Melonie Diaz (born April 25, 1984) is an American film and television actress who has appeared in many independent films, including four shown at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. She received Independent Spirit Awards nominations for performance ...
) begins to openly flirt with drug dealer Mod. This incites Dawn's anger since, unbeknownst to the rest of their friends, Brianne and Dawn are secretly dating.
Tori (
Leighton Meester) plans to take mushrooms with her best friend Sylvia but wants to delay it until after she is done babysitting. When Sylvia takes the mushrooms when they are in charge of the kids Tori decides to join her and the two end up shirking their babysitting duties.
Everyone convenes on the football field where a fight breaks out. Julia does not have sex with Stacey's boyfriend as he leaves her mid-make out. Stacey has sex with Riley, who had been desperate to lose his virginity, finally using the fact that she cheated on her boyfriend as an excuse to break up with him. Despite Dawn's willingness to go public with their relationship Brianne insists that they stay closeted.
In the morning Thomas, a shy photographer hanging out on the fringes of the group, develops photographs of the events of the previous day.
Cast
Critical reception
On
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
it has a score of 0% based on reviews from 6 critics. On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
it had an average score of 36 out of 100, based on reviews from 6 critics.
Peter Debruge of ''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' said that the movie "demonstrates considerable promise on the part of its director and her up-and-coming cast" but had no "great secrets or revelations."
Laura Kern of
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
wrote: "Ultimately, the ensemble of more than twenty featured characters seems as vapid as the intentionally caricatured adults who pop up on occasion. Where are this decade's John Hugheses? Or even the Cameron Crowes?"
References
External links
Official site*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Remember The Daze
2007 films
2008 comedy-drama films
American comedy-drama films
American teen drama films
Films set in 1999
Films shot in North Carolina
2007 comedy films
2008 films
2007 drama films
Films scored by Dustin O'Halloran
2000s English-language films
2000s American films