Coming Through the Rye (2015)

Coming Through the Rye: Directed by James Steven Sadwith. With Alex Wolff, Stefania LaVie Owen, Chris Cooper, Jacob Leinbach. In 1969, the Holden Caulfield-obsessed Jamie Schwartz runs away from boarding school to find the reclusive author J.D. Salinger. Inspired by actual events, Jamie’s search is a journey into the meaning of friendship, love and loss.

“I admit to being thrown off by the rave reviews here, because I found this movie utterly dull and not at all moving or evocative. To the degree it may have touched on the coming-of-age experience, it did so because of cliche scenes and plot lines recycled from every movie you have seen about young people. The writing suffers from the fault of telling rather than showing; we hear all about Jamieu0026#39;s masterful writing and intelligence, yet see none of it for ourselves.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThere is no clever, insightful, or witty dialogue, and viewers never truly see Jamieu0026#39;s personality because it is overwhelmed by his obsession with and kowtowing to Salinger in a way that is uncomfortable to the viewer. I couldnu0026#39;t connect or sympathize with the character, a problem compounded by actor Alex Wolffu0026#39;s performance falling flat. Lackluster music intensified the lethargy.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe central problem, I think, is the filmu0026#39;s autobiographical conceit. The story here could be interesting if executed with panache: aspiring and troubled boy seeks out reclusive author, receives golden wisdom. But the filmu0026#39;s relentless desire to project Jamie as a hero refuses the more interesting (and believable) denouement, a glorious letdown as a teenager comes to realizes his skills are no match for J.D. Salinger and he is not ready for the real world. Instead the film takes Jamieu0026#39;s skills for granted, even though, as he himself admits, all he has done is re-write a novel with some abridgments and added stage directions.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI am shocked not that the screenwriter/director, James Sadwith, actually thought as a teenager he would be the one to receive Salingeru0026#39;s permission to produce an adaptation, because ambitious teenagers think this way. They inflate their sense of self. What shocks me is that Sadwith never learned his lesson, never became more self-aware. He became convinced in retrospect that he really had produced something grand and the world needed to see his story on screen. The film is a sort of end-run around Salingeru0026#39;s interdiction, offering up Sadwithu0026#39;s own Holden Caulfieldesque journey as if it can compete with Salingeru0026#39;s hero; can prove the famous author made a mistake in rebuffing him; can appeal to great fans of the classic novel.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eUltimately, in attempting to take a place on the pedestal with Salinger, Sadwith trips on the manu0026#39;s coattails.”