General Education Movie Review

General Education Movie Review, Written by: Karen Benardello Director: Tom Morris (‘Ships Wrecked Cove’) Starring: Chris Sheffield (‘Transformers: Dark of the Moon’), Maiara Walsh (TV’s ‘Mean Girls 2,’ ‘Switched at Birth’), Larry Miller, Janeane Garofalo and Skylan Brooks (‘Our Family Wedding’) It often takes an unexpected, radical event in a person’s life to truly change the path they embark on and alter the decisions they make. That’s certainly true with Levi Collins, a high school tennis superstar whose life is mapped out for him by his parents until a failing grade hinders his chance at graduating from high school. While Levi’s initial reaction is to lie to his parents about it and continue down the path they chose for him, he comes to realize that he must go after his own goals in order to be truly happy. ‘General Education’ follows Levi (played by Chris Sheffield) as he’s set to graduate and receive an athletic scholarship to the same local university his father, Rich (portrayed by Larry Miller), attended. With Rich and Levi’s mother, Gale (played by Janeane Garofalo), setting high expectations for their second son and continue the family’s legacy of playing tennis, Levi must sacrifice his own happiness and his grades to succeed in the family sport. However, Levi finds out he failed science and must attend summer school in order to get his diploma. So Levi elicits the help of his younger sister, Emily (portrayed by McKaley Miller), his neighbor and side-kick, Charles (played by Skylan Brooks) and his friend Shady Nick (portrayed by Seth Cassell) to cover for him with his parents and complete his coursework. While in summer school, Levi becomes attracted to one of his classmates, Katie (played by Maiara Walsh), while he tries to juggle as the tournaments his father pressures him to play. But he’s determined to not only pass his class so that he can graduate, but also find what truly makes him happy. Filmmaker Tom Morris, who made his feature film directorial and writing debut with ‘General Education,’ created a genuine coming-of-age story with Levi’s determination to please his family while at the same time exploring all career choices and schools that would best fit him. While Levi does excel at tennis, he echoes many teens’ determination to break free from their parents’ influence to do what he feels the most comfortable with. Though Levi lied to his parents about failing his science class just so he wouldn’t get in trouble, the deception strained their relationship and made him truly reconsider what he truly wanted to do with his life. Playing tennis bonded him with his father and made Rich happy, but failing science made Levi realize he didn’t enjoy the sport enough to sacrifice making his own decisions about college and his career. To continue reading this review, please visit Shockya.