"Fireworks" review - No fireworks here.

I had such high hopes for "Fireworks." I ADORED "Your Name." It was such a fantastical, stressful, almost-there, but not quite-ism. And I was engaged the entire time with the 2016 anime. I cannot say the same with today's movie. If it weren't for Moviepass, I would be severely depressed at the money I paid.



Nazuna

Courtesy of marcusgohmarcusgoh.com


 

Fireworks is a very pretty movie, and it had moments that made me hopeful. But after the first "If this would happen," I wasn't impressed. I get that it's a coming of age movie and boys will be boys, but all the female characters were one sided, whereas they filled out the male characters more fully. The characters Nazuna (quiet girl), Norimichi (quiet boy) and Yusuke (not-so quiet boy) don't make sense to me at times. Nazuna was quiet until she would burst out in quick one liners that made her seem totally off her rocker or super ditzy. Then she would go back to quiet girl that wouldn't look at anyone. I won't even get into the part where she dreams/ hallucinates being a singing princess flying around. All the while, Norimichi just stands by with wide-eyed... I don't even know what. I'm not sure if he was really seeing this or not!

Honestly, at the end I'd given up caring if Norimichi could fix things. And I've never been so glad when the credits rolled.

My rating: D (and I usually am the one that loves even the most mundane of movies)

Anyways, here's to hoping Ant-Man and the Wasp is better!