5) At Middleton
There’s nothing particularly flashy about At Middleton, and it’s even enough to make you roll your eyes at times. The concept is both novel and cliché: two parents of high school seniors meet at one of those college campus visit days and, as many descriptions have it, fall in love! So many romantic comedy tropes are exploited here, but at the same time kind of subverted. A number of the scenes are contrived, but playfully enough to make them not necessarily profound, but very sweet. Vera Farmiga and Andy Garcia also possess more than enough charm to make up for some of the schmaltz.
The film exudes a quiet but silly humor that’s unusual to see between two characters of this age, frankly. Its opening sequences establishes this tone rather nicely, as the two sets of parents and children are shown driving to the fictitious Middleton College, and we get to see their differing dynamics. The relationship between the mother and daughter is especially amusing due to the meta element of Farmiga’s daughter being played by her real life younger sister, Taissa. Not every movie has to move mountains; At Middleton has enough nice little details going for it to make it a worthwhile watch.
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