After Parent Guide

I am going to cut right to the chase – After has the wrong title. It should be titled Before because it’s basically a foreplay film, with multiple scenes where the main characters kiss, stroke one another, slide their hands under each other’s clothes (or remove them), bathe together, and embrace standing, sitting, or in bed together. But director Jenny Gage has been careful and, since no breasts or genitals are visible, After manages to come in at the high end of a PG-13 rating. That rating is deceptive because sex is the entire raison d’etre of this sorry excuse for a romantic drama.

Not surprisingly, the plot is thin. Conscientious student and all-round good girl Tessa Young (Josephine Langford) arrives for her freshman year at college and gets thrown in at the deep end with a wild roommate, Steph (Khadijha Red Thunder). At her first college party, a game of Truth or Dare gets very uncomfortable very quickly. After an emotionally charged encounter with Hardin Scott (Hero Fiennes Tiffin), Tessa leaves, but this won’t be the last time she sees him.

The more often she runs into Hardin, the harder it is for Tessa to walk away. As a viewer, it is difficult for me to figure out why. Tessa is a bright, charming young woman, and Josephine Langford plays her with luminous innocence. Hardin, on the other hand, is a brooding, troubled young man, who likes to allude to Heathcliff (from Wuthering Heights). While it might be possible to make his character compelling, Hero Fiennes Tiffin fails completely. His acting is wooden and he seems to think that a petulant expression and British accent will make him seem mysterious or irresistible. But he just manages to come across as a sulky member of a British boy band with entitlement issues. In fact, in one scene where Tessa asks her emotionally manipulative boyfriend who he loves most in the world, his response is “Easy. Myself.”

Despite Hardin’s self-absorption, he and Tessa wind up in a relationship and the sexual content in the movie takes off. The frequent making out scenes are eventually followed by sexual intercourse – shown from the shoulders up, although the rhythmic movement makes it obvious what is happening. The only silver lining to this scene is that Hardin does make sure Tessa consents to the activity and he uses a condom (although watching him rip the package open with his teeth is just plain weird). And these two aren’t the only people involved in a sexual relationship: Steph is apparently a lesbian and we see her kissing another woman on the lips at a party and later bringing a woman back to her room, where she removes her shirt, and the pair kiss in bed while Tessa tries to ignore their activities. On top of the sexual activity, the film features matter-of-fact marijuana use and scenes of college students drinking to excess and pressuring an unwilling student to imbibe. The only bright side in this film’s content is the virtual absence of swearing – I only counted three profanities. It’s a relief to know that Hollywood studios are capable of producing a movie that isn’t saturated with swear words.

At risk of sounding like I’m piling on, I also need to point out that the movie has some annoying plot holes, a predictable resolution to the story, and a lot of one-dimensional characters. It seems strange that university students spend so little time studying but apparently seem to excel in their coursework. (And professors also act in ways that I never saw during my university years.) In light of this film’s manifold flaws, I only hope that audiences avoid this flop instead of regretting it after.