{"id":49826,"date":"2025-09-28T23:30:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-29T03:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=49826"},"modified":"2025-09-29T01:47:20","modified_gmt":"2025-09-29T05:47:20","slug":"growing-pains-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2025\/09\/28\/growing-pains-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Growing Pains (2025)\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Two childhood best friends enter high\u00a0school,\u00a0and new things crop up for\u00a0both of them, causing issues, heartache, and leading them to discover themselves a bit more in the process.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Written by Catherine\u00a0Argyrople\u00a0and Mariana Fabian with the former also directing.\u00a0The film here does feel a bit like a Lifetime Movie of the Week or an old school afterschool special. This is not necessarily\u00a0a bad thing, but it gives an idea of what the film feels and looks like. The story here is one that is filled with issues and lessons, something some parents will\u00a0likely appreciate\u00a0more than their teenagers if they try to get them to watch together.\u00a0The writing here is decent with some scenes feeling a bit extra planned and written, as\u00a0in\u00a0they do not feel all that natural. Of course, the film here is a first feature for the director, so\u00a0some leeway should be given here.\u00a0As first feature, the writing and direction show there is talent here and there is promise. The work is of decent quality, but there is a bit of a lack of experience that shows.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The cast here is a bit uneven with some performances feeling\u00a0fairly flat\u00a0even when they are supposed to be heated or angry in the moment. The work of some of the cast does not feel fully professional here and it does hurt the film a little bit. On the positive side,\u00a0actress\u00a0Deanna\u00a0Tarraza\u00a0is excellent as Natalia (or Nat\/Nati as referred as in the film). Her work is stellar here and she anchors the film in a realistic and naturally nuanced performance. She sells the whole film, steals scenes, and makes the most of her character. Also shining is Maia Isabel Frias as Lexie, she gives a supporting performance that works great as such for\u00a0Tarraza.\u00a0She\u2019s\u00a0present,\u00a0she\u2019s\u00a0natural, and she\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0steal any spotlight but also\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0get erased by those around her.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The cinematography by Lynn Weissman is a bit basic but it serves its purpose of bringing the story to the screen.\u00a0It’s\u00a0decent, it works, but it has no\u00a0particular style.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0there to do a job and the job it does. The score by Joe Chris is as generic as can be with a music that is quite forgettable throughout the film. The soundtrack here has a few songs from Noah in the Open who are featured as a band within the film. Their music is best described as \u201cnot for this viewer\u201d.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Overall, Growing Pain is a decently made film with some talent involved. Deanna\u00a0Tarraza\u00a0is the highlight of the whole film and elevates all her scenes to make the film\u00a0as a whole an\u00a0easier and more agreeable watching experience. As it is, the film should find its audience,\u00a0perhaps with\u00a0mothers of teenage girls facing one or more of the issues shown here. As a film, it\u00a0likely would\u00a0have been a better watch had it focused on one or two issues and not the\u00a0entirety of the teenage experience put within two girls\u2019 lives.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two childhood best friends enter high\u00a0school,\u00a0and new things crop up for\u00a0both of them, causing issues, heartache, and leading them to discover themselves a bit more in the process.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[225,302],"class_list":["post-49826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-coming-of-age","tag-drama"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49826"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49826\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49827,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49826\/revisions\/49827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}