Title: Turtles all the way down
Actors: Isabela Merced, Cree, Judy Reyes
Director: Hannah Marks
Writers: John Green, Elizabeth Marker, Isaac Aptaker
Genre: Drama, Romance
Length: 1h 51min
My Rating: ❤️❤️❤️❤️🖤
Watch this movie now on HBO MAX
Turtles All The Way Down
Aza Holmes is not like the other teenagers at her school, she has OCD. Aza is extremely terrified of bacteria and once she gets into a thought spiral, it is very hard for her to get out of her. Luckily she has a best friend, Daisy, who supports her all the time. Then she reconnects with Davis, from summer cap years ago. At first, it was Daisy’s idea to get close to him again to find his super-rich father so they could get a huge finder’s fee. But when Aza and Davis see each other again, there is definitely more than just friendship between the two. The problem is that thinking about kissing him makes Aza nauseous, even though she likes him a lot.
Review
In the past, I’ve seen ‘The Fault in Our Stars’ and ‘Paper Towns’. And I liked them a lot. Especially the fault in our stars is extremely sad. I was expecting the same vibes for this movie as well. I read only three books by John Green and then I just gave up. I am not the biggest fan of his writing style. So now, I just wait if there well be a movie adaption and I watch that instead because his stories are not bad.
In the movie (Turtles all the Way Down), the main character has OCD and is struggling with it. I think it is great that movies (and books of course) show us all kinds of people. Everyone is not the same and everyone has their own struggles. She has a lot of invasive obsessive thoughts that are very hard to control. I could relate a little bit, because sometimes I overthink everything (not about the same things as the main character though), and it is very hard to snap out of it and live a normal life. Luckily for me, I can get out of it, but for her, it is something she has to deal on a daily basis. Sounds awful. Feeling stuck in your own head is hard.
The other characters were pretty likable and they all have their own struggles. There is a huge fight between the two best friends Aza and Daisy. And what Daisy did was not cool, but she was also dealing with things. But every friendship has its ups and downs. Davis is a pretty cool character. His father is gone and the police/FBI is looking for him, but still, he is such a kind and understanding character. He is not judging Aza at all.
Just like with the other movies (of John Green), you shouldn’t expect a happy ending. The cast is pretty good. I recognized a few of the characters. I’ve seen Isabela Merced before in ‘Instant Family’ and I know Felix Mallard from other stuff like ‘Ginny and Georgia’, ‘All the Bright Places’, and ‘Locke and Key’. I think it was the first time I saw Cree on a screen, but I liked her vibe as well. Hope to see her in more movies/shows soon.
Overall, I can definitely recommend this movie. Yes, it was very sad at some points. But at the same time, it was also very beautiful. And if you prefer to read, then you could always read the book by John Green. And I have to say that even though the movie was around two hours long, I was paying attention to the movie the whole time. Last week, I was watching ‘Challengers‘ and that movie was also two hours and I was so bored the whole time. My phone was way more interesting. But with Turtles all the Way Down I never got bored and I did not touch my phone while watching this movie.