The First Time - DVD

Film: Dave (Dylan O`Brien) is badly in love. Too bad he's just a good buddy to his dream girl Jane (Victoria Justice) and she only seems to have eyes for the cool guys at his school. But at a party Dave finally wants to gather all his courage and reveal his feelings to Jane. As he practices his passionate love speech, he is surprised by Aubrey (Britt Robertson). The two quickly strike up a conversation, during which a very special chemistry develops between them. This could turn into something really big and romantic - but it's too bad that Dave's heart actually belongs to Jane and Aubrey is involved with the older Ronny (James Frecheville). But she doesn't feel as well understood by him as she does by Dave, whom she's only known for a few hours. A turbulent weekend begins, at the end of which either great happiness or complete emotional chaos will reign...

The First Time is a really positive surprise. The opening credits still lead us to expect a rather adolescent party movie that is nothing more than another American Pie knock-off. But as soon as the camera leaves the party and heads outside the house, where a nervous Dave prepares to declare his love for Jane, it quickly turns into an extremely charming, shrewdly written and real-life romantic comedy. Director Jonathan Kasdan, who has already shown a very good knack for writing the wonderful series Freaks & Geeks (Voll daneben voll im Leben) about the trials and tribulations of teenagers on the cusp of adulthood, has created two main characters who don't come across as pure art products. Even if their verbal spats seem a little too clever here and there (reminiscent of Dawson`s Creek, another series Kasdan wrote for), Dave and Aubrey never seem aloof. As such, they provide perfect areas of identification for the target teenage audience. But older viewers can also recognize themselves in these characters at many moments, which makes the film just not a straight teen movie, but for a charming romance that transcends all generational boundaries.

The supporting characters, most notably Dave's buddies Simon (Craig Roberts) and Big Corporation (Lamarcus Tinker), are also very lovingly and accurately drawn. While the characters, as well as the story as a whole, are not entirely free of clichés, even these are presented in such a charming manner that the overall positive impression of the comedy is only marginally weakened by them. Still, The First Time isn't a perfect movie. Especially in the long dialogue scenes between Dave and Aubrey there are some small, somewhat bumpily staged lengths that lack the good timing that otherwise prevails. However, this again fits in with the realism that the film basically exudes. Because in reality, when you first get to know someone or when you get physically close to them for the first time, there are also some awkward moments, moments when the words don't come over your lips in a clear flow of speech or moments when you just don't know how to behave or what to say. From this point of view, the more tame moments actually don't turn out to be a weakness - even if the pace is noticeably slowed down by them.

It's a bit of a shame that the film only feels like a teenage version of Harry and Sally in its best moments, but can't maintain this level throughout the entire running time. Nevertheless, The First Time is, on balance, a really nice, successful teen romance that completely avoids the toilet humor and crude sex jokes that have unfortunately become common for this genre, and instead focuses on charming characters and real-seeming feelings - without the humor coming up short. A very nice film, in which not only teenagers who like it a little bit more sophisticated than American Pie, can have fun. Absolutely worth seeing!

Picture + Sound: The image of the DVD unfortunately does not leave a consistently good impression. While the brighter shots have good image sharpness and a coherent color scheme, the darker sequences suffer from poor contrast and an overall too dark mix. The audio isn't a real revelation either, but that's less due to the decent Dolby Digital 5.1 mix and more due to the fact that romantic teen comedies generally have little more to offer than dialogue and music. But since it's the conversations between Dave and Aubrey that play the real starring role of the film, and they ring out of the speakers in a well intelligible and powerfully mixed manner, this one gets a more than deserved: good!

Extras: The only bonus features are a slightly extended version of the opening sequence (approx. 13 min.), as well as the trailer for the film.

Conclusion: The First Time is a wonderfully refreshing change of pace in the teen comedy genre. Instead of crude humor and over-the-top characters, director Jonathan Kasdan focuses on clever dialogue, real-life situations, and very real-seeming characters that you can still relate to as an adult. A truly charming romance that can be warmly recommended not only to young viewers who are going through their first love. Absolutely recommended!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp