MOVIEmeter
Top 5000
Up 103 this week

The Art of Getting By (2011)

6.4
Your rating:
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 -/10 X  
Ratings: 6.4/10 from 19,634 users   Metascore: 36/100
Reviews: 56 user | 113 critic | 28 from Metacritic.com

George, a lonely and fatalistic teen who's made it all the way to his senior year without ever having done a real day of work, is befriended by Sally, a popular but complicated girl who recognizes in him a kindred spirit.

Director:

Writer:

Watch Trailer
0Check in
0Share...

User Lists

Related lists from IMDb users

a list of 10000 titles created 2 months ago
 
a list of 20 titles created 20 Jan 2012
 
a list of 66 titles created 16 Jun 2011
 
a list of 143 titles created 3 months ago
 
a list of 1275 titles created 04 Oct 2011
 

Connect with IMDb


Share this Rating

Title: The Art of Getting By (2011)

The Art of Getting By (2011) on IMDb 6.4/10

Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below.

Take The Quiz!

Test your knowledge of The Art of Getting By.
2 nominations. See more awards »

Videos

Photos

Learn more

People who liked this also liked... 

Drama | Romance | Sci-Fi
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.7/10 X  

As an asteroid nears Earth, a man finds himself alone after his wife leaves in a panic. He decides to take a road trip to reunite with his high school sweetheart. Accompanying him is a neighbor who inadvertently puts a wrench in his plan.

Director: Lorene Scafaria
Stars: Steve Carell, Keira Knightley, Melanie Lynskey
Drama | Romance
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 5.9/10 X  

A Hollywood-set romantic tale of a guy who is content to live his life without a job yet with the love of his life, a young actress.

Director: James Keach
Stars: Rachel Bilson, Tom Sturridge, Richard Jenkins
The Artist I (2011)
Comedy | Drama | Romance
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8.1/10 X  

A silent movie star meets a young dancer, but the arrival of talking pictures sends their careers in opposite directions.

Director: Michel Hazanavicius
Stars: Jean Dujardin, Bérénice Bejo, John Goodman
Delicacy (2011)
Comedy | Romance
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.3/10 X  

A French woman mourning over the death of her husband three years prior is courted by a Swedish co-worker.

Directors: David Foenkinos, Stéphane Foenkinos
Stars: Audrey Tautou, François Damiens, Bruno Todeschini
Forget Me Not I (2010)
Romance
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.2/10 X  

Love Happens. When you least expect it. Forget Me Not is a moving, modern day love story set over twenty four hours against a stunning London backdrop.

Directors: Alexander Holt, Lance Roehrig
Stars: Luke de Woolfson, Tobias Menzies, Charlie Covell
Safe Haven (2013)
Drama | Mystery | Romance
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.4/10 X  

A young woman with a mysterious past lands in Southport, North Carolina where her bond with a widower forces her to confront the dark secret that haunts her.

Director: Lasse Hallström
Stars: Julianne Hough, David Lyons, Josh Duhamel
Drama | Romance
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.6/10 X  

In pre-World War France, a father is torn between his sense of honor and his deep love for his saintly daughter when she gets in trouble with the wealthy son of a shopkeeper.

Director: Daniel Auteuil
Stars: Daniel Auteuil, Jean-Pierre Darroussin, Nicolas Duvauchelle
Adventure | Drama | Romance
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 5.5/10 X  

Two high school students become stranded on a tropical island and must rely on each other for survival. They learn more about themselves and each other while falling in love.

Directors: Jake Newsome, Mikael Salomon
Stars: Indiana Evans, Brenton Thwaites, Denise Richards
Romance | Sci-Fi | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7/10 X  

The affair between a politician and a ballerina is affected by mysterious forces keeping the lovers apart.

Director: George Nolfi
Stars: Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Michael Kelly
Adam I (2009)
Drama | Romance
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.1/10 X  

Adam, a lonely man with Asperger's Syndrome, develops a relationship with his upstairs neighbor, Beth.

Director: Max Mayer
Stars: Hugh Dancy, Rose Byrne, Peter Gallagher
Comedy | Drama | Romance
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.6/10 X  

A woman suffering from Parkinson's befriends a drug rep working for Pfizer against 1990s Pittsburgh backdrop.

Director: Edward Zwick
Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Anne Hathaway, Oliver Platt
Easy A (2010)
Comedy | Romance
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.1/10 X  

A clean-cut high school student relies on the school's rumor mill to advance her social and financial standing.

Director: Will Gluck
Stars: Emma Stone, Penn Badgley, Amanda Bynes
Edit

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
...
...
...
Zoe Rubenstein
...
Will Sharpe
...
Mrs. Grimes
...
Cynthia
...
Principal Martinson
...
Mrs. Dougherty
...
Vivian Sargent
Jarlath Conroy ...
Harris McElroy
...
Charlotte Howe
...
Javier
...
Jack Sargent
...
Ms. Herman
...
Dustin
Edit

Storyline

Believing the quote that you are born alone, die alone and everything else is an illusion, George doesn't see the point of life, school, or homework. Then he meets Sally and he now has a reason to go to school and make friends, even if he's not ready to admit to himself or to her that he likes her. The school's principal and art teacher introduce him to an alumni, and successful artist, Dustin, who can help guide George along life's path, but other distractions start surfacing, and George might not even be able to graduate from high school. Written by napierslogs

Plot Summary | Plot Synopsis

Taglines:

Everybody's got some. See more »

Genres:

Drama | Romance

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for thematic elements including sexual content, language, teen drinking and partying | See all certifications »

Parents Guide:

 »
Edit

Details

Official Sites:

Country:

Language:

Release Date:

28 July 2011 (Israel)  »

Also Known As:

Homework  »

Filming Locations:


Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$679,160 (USA) (17 June 2011)

Gross:

$1,429,260 (USA) (8 July 2011)
 »

Company Credits

Show detailed on  »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

Color:

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1
See  »
Edit

Did You Know?

Trivia

Shipped to theaters under the code name "Flunk". See more »

Quotes

Harris McElroy: You're going to have to start using that brain of yours to access that talent of yours to show that beautiful heart of yours.
See more »

Connections

Features Zazie dans le métro (1960) See more »

Soundtracks

"Who Forgets"
Written by Richard Farnon and Richard Johnson
Courtesy of The Music Collective
See more »

Frequently Asked Questions

See more (Spoiler Alert!) »

User Reviews

 
Exactly average in every way, another teen "romance".
18 December 2012 | by (United States) – See all my reviews

This was one of those understated-on-purpose films which I normally adore: except I didn't. There has to be some type of excellence in these little indies which invite a second look -- great acting, original concepts, exceptional dialog, beautiful art direction, etc. -- but in this case, none of the above applies. The Art of Getting By lives up to its name by just scraping by on its formulaic mediocrity in every category.

Freddy Highmore and Emma Roberts play high school students in the city, from different from different social classes even though they both go to an expensive private school. George (Highmore) also happens to be a loner/misfit who has a bad case of that teen angst we all can recognize: everything's pointless, why bother doing homework, we're all going to die anyway, yadda yadda. He's got all his justifications figured out, and then one day he develops a hard crush on Sally (Roberts), and suddenly sees that there may be a point to things after all. But of course there are personal problems and home life to drive a wedge between their budding maybe/sorta romance, including George's inability to express his feelings in any way except through his art. So the stereotype of the misunderstood loner/misfit is carried through quite predictably, exactly as we have all seen it in two dozen other films about teenagers.

Highmore and Roberts are good-looking and competent actors, judging by what I've seen of their work elsewhere. Here, however, they fizzle. There is simply no chemistry between their characters. Roberts may be able to get by on her stunning good looks, but lip-twisting and -twitching do not a convincing actress make; she merely sleepwalks through her lines. We the audience are never shown what it is about her (other than striking eyes) which attracts George. George does have a few moments of good dialog which could have been gold in the hands of a motivated actor, but the constant wooden expressions on his face undermine them; he is blank even when tears are running down his cheeks. How the heck are we supposed to care about his personal crisis? I will say in its favor that TAOGB does have some standout minor characters; the adults in George's life which, for the most part, are well-acted. I especially liked his art teacher's over-the-top intensity. George's mom is also wonderfully cast for the role of a tired woman just trying to hold her family together. And what's up with Alicia Silverstone as a frumpy schoolmarm?!?..but it works, oddly enough.

So in short, TAOGB wasn't a disaster, but I just can't see anybody citing it for outstanding, well, *anything* in the years to come.


3 of 3 people found this review helpful.  Was this review helpful to you?

Message Boards

Recent Posts
Didnt like the outcome.. R_RoguE
All the things guys do wrong with women jeanfoutsa
RIP OFF!!!! mamataadam
Movies shot in a similar way to this one? spot-light
Why a limited release? canadian_girl91
Movie Scene myrosebud
Discuss The Art of Getting By (2011) on the IMDb message boards »

Contribute to This Page

Create a character page for:
?