Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List (2015)

Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List isn't your typical teen drama-comedy, and that's not a good thing. What makes teen dramadies so appealing is that even though they're cliched, they're charming in a cheesy way. Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List does not come across as charming though, it just comes across as confused. It doesn't fall anywhere. I don't really know the target demographic for this movie. The movie talks about sex and mentions d*cks and pretty "adult" things that shouldn't be targeted to preteens and young teens, but it doesn't really seem to be targeted to older teenagers either. I can't see an 18 year old enjoying this film. This movie doesn't know how to correctly illustrate how an 18 year old really acts. These young adults are shown doing pretty adult things like partying and having hookups and what not, but they argue over trivial things and go on and on about fake deep philosophies as they desperately try to seem "woke". I suppose teenagers tend to be fake deep, but a lot of teenagers are also self aware. The two main characters, Naomi especially, aren't. Naomi's character is dreadful. She is arrogant, selfish, and childish. She tries so hard to be "hard" and even though she learns and "grows" (if you can even call what happened growth), she still rubs me the wrong way. Ely's a bit better and has more sense, but he's pretty bland on his own. The ending and the so called "character development" doesn't seem deserved.

This film was obviously made by people who had absolutely no idea about gay men (around whom this film is centred). I found it incredibly insulting. I have no doubt that the creative team took absolutely no notice of (if there were any) gay men who almost certainly weren't allowed creative input in the production of this film.The behaviour of the lead "gay" man was very painful to watch. I know of very few, if any, gay men that kiss their female friends full-on on the lips. I know there may be exceptions, but it seemed totally unrealistic to me. Far more likely a kiss on the cheek or an air kiss. I know the girl he was kissing was in love with him, but I highly doubt he would have been reciprocating or allowing it to continue.I am convinced this film's creative leaders were (perhaps unaware they were being) homophobic (or at least entirely insensitive), using a gay male character as a tool for this horrible pretext, with no consideration for the gay males in society. The whole movie smacked of a "creative" team who did no research on the subject. Not even the lead actor.The only reason I gave this film 2 stars was that technically it was OK - correct exposure, etc., although shaky camera movements (normally used to create tension) were inappropriate.

I went in wanting to assess Matthew Daddario's acting so I had little to no expectations. It's a nice little movie with a good pace, great music and excellent costumes.Victoria's acting did nothing for me. At no point in the movie did I feel her despair, excitement or any other emotion she was apparently experiencing. Pierson was amazing, touching, sensitive and sensible. Sadly, Victoria was giving him so little material to work with, he often came out too strong and overtly emotional. Still, an actor I will watch out for.So I went in for him but he was the biggest disappointment. I found he played his character the same way he plays Alec in Shadowhunters. Huge bummer... While in Shadowhunters it works great with the book character as it brings him a more complete personality - except for the occasional out of character lines - it worked even better here as Gabriel. The two characters are so blurred, now I will see Gabriel every time I watch Alec. That being said, great chemistry between Gabriel and Naomi, Naomi and Ely but nothing between Ely and Bruce 2.Overall, it's an OK movie that 16 years old girls should enjoy. I would recommend it to them.

This movie was so far beyond bad I can't even find any amusement from making fun of it. The titular Naomi is one of the most annoying characters ever committed to screen. Vapid, self-absorbed, lazy, irresponsible and mean-spirited. And then she's somehow surprised when her life goes to "ruins". And I use that term lightly considering she doesn't actually have any REAL problems to speak of. Just petty drama worthy of junior high brats. And the character is made all the more obnoxious by having some random, horrid actress cast in the role. Wouldn't be surprised if they fished her out of the dregs of the Disney channel....Ely at least has some redeemable qualities. But he's spineless and refuses to stand up for himself as Naomi continuously walks all over him to make herself feel better about her sorry life. Their entire relationship is toxic. The co-dependency is borderline pathologic. In short, the only people who could possibly enjoy this drivel are thirteen year old girls who want to have their pathetic lifestyles reaffirmed. Or grown adults who are thirteen year old girls at heart and refuse to grow up and join the real world.