Stars: 3/5
“Chemical Hearts” disrespects the raw beauty of teenage years with an exaggeration of emotional sophistication. 
Henry Page (Austin Abrams) is an aspiring writer and explains from the start that he lacks interesting experiences to write about because “nothing ever happens” to him. Que emotionally and physically damaged Grace Town (Lili Reinhart), who transferred schools after her and her boyfriend got into a serious vehicle accident. The trauma of this led her becoming more of an introvert, just like Henry. They meet and fight over if Henry could ever possibly understand and heal Grace. 
Henry is set on connecting with Grace from the start, while Grace wants to spend the year unseen to give herself time to heal. Henry is shown as a hero, an innocent boy that wants nothing more than to help this poor girl, but really he smothers her spoken need for space. 
Henry, a senior that breaks and fixes ceramics for fun, meets freshly traumatized Grace. How perfect, a teenage boy ready to fix a broken girl figuring out how to get past a death she believes is her own fault. While the movie tries to show just how complicated these significant years are in one’s life, it almost does the opposite by making the characters so on page with these complications. The over explanation destroys the mystery of feelings a teen struggles with. 
Nothing says teenage coming of age movie like a dramatic love story. As dreamy as it is for most highschoolers, the love they find in those four years seem to add to the confusion rather than fix traumas. 
Don’t get me wrong, Lili Reinhart and Austin Abrams’ movie displays impactful acting and beautiful scenes. I just could not help but notice how wrong the emotions of teenagers are portrayed.  It seems like the entire point of the film is to show the deep, scary feelings most high schoolers experience. “Teenage limbo” is shown to be the process of teens figuring out where they belong in the world. For such confusing years of a person’s life, the characters seem to have an uncanny sense of their crazy emotions.
“As a teenager you’re navigating for the first time, your first love, and your first experience with heartache. And it’s your body experiencing these things you’ve never felt before so it’s uncharted territory,” Reinhart said. 
I think I speak for the majority of teenagers when I say I had absolutely no idea the reasoning behind my strong emotions controlling those highschool years. Reinhart and Abrams characters say they are confused but are able to portray a perfect explanation to every one of their emotions. 
“Chemical Hearts” manages to make the audience feel something, but not the feelings intended. The storyline was emotional and heartfelt, of course, but the theme of understanding teenage psychology was contradicting.