Early in the film "Too Young to Marry," there is a high school classroom discussion of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet." Young Max answers the instructor's question with a ringing defense of the idealized love of the two title characters. The film then proceeds to evoke a modern rendition of Shakespeare's classic tale with the play's counterparts of Max and Jess.
The little love birds just can't wait to tie the knot, so they get married in high school. It is a simple ceremony with only a handful present at the church. Like the Montagues and the Capulets in Shakespeare's play, the parents in the film are not supportive of the marriage. But young Jess has an ally in her divorced mother, who supports the union.
Jess gets accepted to Harvard, but Max is rejected. Thus begins the conflict that leads to friction and even a trial separation for the newlyweds. Jess has a crush on a fellow student who is charmer and a guitarist. Max gets drunk and receives a hickey that is as big as the state of New Jersey.
In a grotesque parody of "Romeo and Juliet," the hickey scene occurs when a hungover Max scales the trellis to arrive at the window where Jess has been sleeping on the coach in the dorm room of her friend Sophia. It is when Max pokes his head in the window that the eagle-eyed Jess spots the telltale hickey. It looks like the marriage is about to implode. This moment gives new meaning to Juliet's immortal words, "Parting is such sweet sorrow."
Jess does not seem to recognize that Max has some genuine talent as a builder and is gaining valuable experience on a construction site. When he is injured, Jess does not even know whether her husband has health insurance. She is clueless about his medical history when asked by a nurse. She could have been more patient, especially as her husband had been accepted at other colleges, yet selflessly rejected opportunities so that they could live together.
Despite a smarmy ending that reunites the lovers in blissful conjugal union, the film actually makes a good argument that with the pressures in the twenty-first century, Max and Jess really were too young to marry. The cast was likable, and there was a dynamic ebb-and-flow in the growing pains of the young couple. The ending just didn't quite ring true.
The little love birds just can't wait to tie the knot, so they get married in high school. It is a simple ceremony with only a handful present at the church. Like the Montagues and the Capulets in Shakespeare's play, the parents in the film are not supportive of the marriage. But young Jess has an ally in her divorced mother, who supports the union.
Jess gets accepted to Harvard, but Max is rejected. Thus begins the conflict that leads to friction and even a trial separation for the newlyweds. Jess has a crush on a fellow student who is charmer and a guitarist. Max gets drunk and receives a hickey that is as big as the state of New Jersey.
In a grotesque parody of "Romeo and Juliet," the hickey scene occurs when a hungover Max scales the trellis to arrive at the window where Jess has been sleeping on the coach in the dorm room of her friend Sophia. It is when Max pokes his head in the window that the eagle-eyed Jess spots the telltale hickey. It looks like the marriage is about to implode. This moment gives new meaning to Juliet's immortal words, "Parting is such sweet sorrow."
Jess does not seem to recognize that Max has some genuine talent as a builder and is gaining valuable experience on a construction site. When he is injured, Jess does not even know whether her husband has health insurance. She is clueless about his medical history when asked by a nurse. She could have been more patient, especially as her husband had been accepted at other colleges, yet selflessly rejected opportunities so that they could live together.
Despite a smarmy ending that reunites the lovers in blissful conjugal union, the film actually makes a good argument that with the pressures in the twenty-first century, Max and Jess really were too young to marry. The cast was likable, and there was a dynamic ebb-and-flow in the growing pains of the young couple. The ending just didn't quite ring true.