DVD Review | All I Want
Written by: Kage Alan

Originally titled “Try Seventeen”, I guess I can understand why someone went ahead and changed the name.  Heaven forbid a movie title that suggests someone might want to have sex with somebody under the age of 18.  That would just be unheard of, especially considering the number of teenage pregnancies these days.  Rather than face the problem, we’ll just pretend it’s not happening and maybe it’ll go away.  Then too, I could be way off base about the change in title.  I doubt it, but it could happen.  Fortunately, whatever the name of this film, the work still speaks for itself.

Seventeen-year-old Jones (Elijah Wood, “Radio Flyer”) arrives at college to begin his freshman year (a year early apparently), only it’s not what he expected.  His roommate only listens to SKA music and the place just isn’t very inviting.  In light of this, Jones pulls his trunk behind him and heads off to rent a room at a local boarding house.  It’s there that he meets another odd group of people, but a good kind of odd.  There’s local gay artist and mechanic Brad (Aaron Pearl, “X2”), borderline selfish actress wannabe Lisa (Mandy Moore, “A Walk To Remember”) and the slightly older and definitely chillier Jane (Franka Potente, “Run Lola Run”).

While Jones continues to write letters to a father he never knew and can’t locate because his mother (Elizabeth Perkins) won’t share any information, he soon becomes the object of curiosity with each of the new people in his life.  The local used furniture sales woman (Deborah Harry, “Videodrome”) offers to show Jones the ropes in bed and Lisa wants a meaningless night of heavy panting, only it’s Jane who captures his interest.  When the two are in a car accident together and Jane must spend some time in the hospital, Jones discovers he’s now competing for her attention when her old boyfriend shows up.  Will Jones finally learn the meaning of love while losing his virginity or are there only painful lessons in life?

“All I Want” is a sweet little film with a great cast.  There are just enough quirky moments to keep audiences interested and amused and the writing is surprisingly sharp at times.  Despite all of this, it’s not a mainstream film and Director Jeffrey Porter (“The Liar’s Club”) doesn’t mind a disjointed approach to the editing, style or story.  Just when viewers are slightly jolted out of the movie, something happens that brings them right back in.  For some odd reason, it works.  Aside from Wood’s big blue eyes taking center stage, Franka Potente once again shows her wonderful range as an actress and proves yet again that we can continue to expect great things from her.

Sony has released “All I Want” in a fairly consistent and decent looking Widescreen transfer.  There is a hint of grain here and there, but the film is set for mood and the smaller imperfections don’t really detract from the overall piece.  Audio quality is really solid here and I found myself wishing there was a soundtrack available for Andrew Gross’ score.  Unfortunately, the disc is barren of extras, unless you count trailers.  I don’t.  I would have loved to have heard a commentary.

This film didn’t have a wide release, at least according to IMDB.  It made the film festival circuit, then disappeared until its release on home video.  Fans of Wood, Moore and Potente will probably be the first ones to check this film out, but I think a wider audience has yet to discover this little gem.  Hopefully they will.  I enjoyed this one, minor flaws and all.

Film Rating: B+
DVD Special Features: N/A