The In Between Parent Guide

Tessa (Joey King) and Skylar (Kye Allen) have spent a magical summer falling in love with one another and sharing their hopes and dreams. As the season ends, the two quarrel, and before Skylar leaves town, the pair are hit by a car, leaving Tess with a broken heart. Literally. Her heart has ruptured and must be repaired – and Skylar is dead, which means that surgery alone cannot heal her. The only way she can fully recover is to reach into the “in between” space where Skylar lingers and complete their unfinished emotional business.

If the whole “broken heart” thing isn’t a clue, let me be clear: this is a very, very cheesy movie. “Love never dies” is a line that comes out of Skylar’s mouth (seriously!) and the rest of the film hits all the tropes you can imagine for a romantic teen drama. There’s a “meet-cute” where Tessa and Skylar encounter each other in a movie theater as he translates for her in the absence of subtitles. Various romantic dates follow – picnics, drives, rowing around a lake, and some sex in the woods. As their relationship deepens, Kyle opens up about his parents’ marital problems, and

Tessa delves into her paralyzing fear of emotional commitment. It’s a tribute to Joey King and Kyle Allen that the romance feels convincing. Heaven knows the script is often painful, but these young actors give it their all and it sometimes works.

What’s less convincing is the supernatural aspect of the film, which is a serious problem for a movie based on “love after death”. The whole idea of a liminal space between life and death is a bit unsettling and it is never satisfactorily explained by Doris (Donna Biscoe), the elderly sage who guides Tessa on her quest to reconnect with Skylar. What really left me scratching my head are the inconsistencies in how the dead can reach out to the living. For instance, Skylar can apparently control electric lights, trigger cell phone ring tones, mess with computers, override a car’s GPS, and even drive a car – all from the great beyond. If he can do all that, why can’t he simply send Tessa texts to share what he feels and where she can find him? Instead, Tessa and her best friend wind up experimenting with a planchette, staring at TV static, and trying every other thing they can come up with to bridge the divide between the lovers.

If you’re wondering about watching The In Between with teens, I’d sound a cautionary note. The profanity and sexual content are par for the course in teen films, the biggest concern being the intercourse al fresco (without mention of contraception). The scene is carefully filmed and there is no graphic nudity but it might fall outside of family viewing standards. The bigger issue here is Tessa’s behavior after Skylar’s death. Buffeted by powerful emotions, Tessa acts in ways that are often self-destructive and reckless. When she focuses her energies on connecting with Skylar, she steals a credit card belonging to Vickie (Kim Dickens), one of her long-suffering guardians, in order to purchase supplies that will help her find ghosts. (Yup, that’s in the storyline.) Tessa’s choices in this movie are frequently inadvisable and don’t provide a positive template for teen viewers.

On the bright side, the movie does manage to generate some messages about not being paralyzed by fear and moving beyond past traumas. The story also clearly demonstrates the need teens have for adult guidance, particularly as Vickie and Mel (John Ortiz) provide critical support for Tessa, persisting even when she tries to push them away. And although it’s smothered in all the cheesy layers, there’s a pretty decent tribute here to the power of love to lift and heal.