3/5 Stars

Teenagers, especially movie teenagers, always have one thing on their minds. Oliver Tate (Noah Taylor), is no exception. In ‘Submarine’, Oliver, is not only worried about his sex life, but his parents.

Oliver narrates a good portion of the movie, and when the voiceover started I almost wanted to stop watching. Narration can get overdone in a lot of movies — and I see it as a sign that the movie-makers can’t tell a good story without it. Despite this, a few minutes into the movie I realized it was almost necessary for the narration to be there, in order to really understand what kind of quirky things going on in Oliver’s mind.

The characterization was done nicely. We didn’t get to see a lot regarding Oliver’s relationship with his girlfriend Jordana, but from what we were shown, you could really get a sense of how the actors tried to portray their relationship rule “no emotion”. It gave a good sense of how many teenagers do act in relationships — being mean to each other — without feeling too forced.

Oliver’s parents were also subtly hilarious. The actors that make up the Tate family work really well together, and you can almost see them being a family in real life.  Movie families are hardly ever portrayed realistically, and the Tate family in ‘Submarine’ is no exception, but the dark humor that the family interacts in makes them less an annoying movie family, and more quietly hilarious.

The storyline was nice, certainly nothing too original. Oliver wants to lose his virginity, but also has to save his parents marriage and stop his mom from sleeping with their new neighbor (an inspirational speaker who says “we all radiate color”). It was the little jokes interwoven in the storyline, such as Oliver convincing his mother that he’s paranoid, that kept me watching.

The minor, background changing, special effects towards the end of the movie threw me off. The filmmakers could have conveyed Oliver’s mental breakdown without using something so gimmicky as changing the background to psychedelic patterns.

Overall, ‘Submarine’ is a good movie to check out. It probably won’t become your favorite, but it does warrant a viewing or two because of the dark humor.

“Submarine” will be playing  at 7 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m.  and 7 p.m. on Saturday and at 2 p.m. on Sunday in Woodland Theater in Davies Center.