The Bachelors 2017

     After the loss of his wife, Bill Paleo and his 17-year-old son Wes move out of their small town into the big city of Los Angeles in an attempt to have a fresh start.  As they each begin to adjust to their new life and seek ways to heal their wounds, they both find comfort in newfound romances.  Wes meets Lacy, she is an introverted but fierce girl whose enigmatic personality captivates Wes' attention.  Bill meets Carine, she is a compassionate and elegant French language teacher whose own past heartaches resonate with his.  Their relationships are tested, Bill and Wes grow apart and back together again while discovering their true selves in the process.

     Bill and Wes arrive in their new home both with excess baggage.  Bill is extremely sad because of the passing of his wife.  She was his everything and he doesn’t know how to move forward or even move on.  Wes is helping Lacy with her French but she is struggling with the impending divorce of her parents.  She is living through her parent’s phase of yelling and demeaning each other.  Lacy has a younger sister and they are both suffering along with their parents.  

     This is a drama about a father and his teen son recovering from the death of their wife/mother.  It's quite touching, with themes of empathy and it should be fine for high school teens and up in age.  A teen girl cuts herself, some slicing and blood is shown.  There's a brief cafeteria fight between two teen boys, one gets hit with a lunch tray and there is some bleeding.  Teens briefly kiss and there's some sex talk.  Teen girls are objectified in one scene, emerging in slow motion from a bus and a term that's degrading is used by teen boys.  Language includes a few uses of mild swear words plus several other words and insults.  An adult takes mood-enhancing medications and drinks socially because of severe depression.  Teens hold red cups at a party but thethough the contents isn’t revealed.  5* (I really liked this movie)

99 min, Drama directed and written by Kurt Voelker with J.K Simmons, Jean Louisa Kelly, Odeya Rush, Harold Perrineau, Julie Delphy, Jae Head, Kevin Dunn, Spencer List, Tom Amandes, Josh Wiggins, Tyrel Jackson Williams, Michael McGlone, R.J. Ramini, Kitana Turnbull, Keith L. Williams.

Note:  Imdb 6.,8* out of 10* with 4079 reviews, Rotten Tomatoes 83% with 18 critics 74% with 328 audience scores, Common Sense Media Jeffrey M. Anderson, 4* out of 5*, age 13+, 2* positive role models, violence, sex, drinking, drugs & smoking, 3* positive messages, language, Metacritic 54 out of 100 with 4 critics 6.8 out of 10 with 5 user scores, Letterboxd 3.1* out of 5*.

Special Note:  Julie Delphy in the role of Carine was also in the series of films with Ethan Hawke, Before Sunrise, Sunset and Midnight Trilogies.  I like her as an actress.