In order to be taken seriously, a film of this variety cannot take itself too seriously. Stay quirky and true and you make this enjoyable film. Try to win an Oscar and you make Boyhood. Kelly Fremon Craig knew this.

The Edge of Seventeen finds Nadine (Steinfeld) on the perilous precipice of adulthood. She adds a teaspoon of biting wit to her self-deprecation and melancholy. And we love her for it. Normally thrilled with indifference, our hero lands herself, and her colorful sneakers, in a junior year social pickle.

Mr. Bruner (Harrelson), her History teacher, generates even more desperation for poor Nadine with his mocking disinterest in being her confidant. This fantastic interplay drives the film’s comedy. And Erwin (Szeto), the torchbearer for all high school kids awkwardly asking each other out, grabs our rooting interest. The only hiccup is the woe-is-me diatribe by the otherwise well-acted older brother, Darian (Jenner). It sparks thoughts of Zach Braff’s “latch” rant in Garden State, not the best company.

Judd Nelson turned 56 the other day so let’s stop comparing every original high school movie to The Breakfast Club. The candid and whimsical Edge of Seventeen passes notes on 4.34 cafeteria napkins out of 5.