X
- 2022
- TV-14
- Netflix
- 1 h 50 m
- 2022
- TV-14
- Netflix
- 1 h 50 m
Summary On the night of her college graduation, Natalie's (Lili Reinhart) life diverges into parallel realities. In one life, she becomes pregnant and must navigate motherhood as a young adult in her hometown and in the other she moves to LA to pursue her career. In both journeys, Natalie experiences life-changing love, pursues her dream career...
Directed By: Wanuri Kahiu
Written By: April Prosser
- 2022
- TV-14
- Netflix
- 1 h 50 m
- 2022
- TV-14
- Netflix
- 1 h 50 m
Look Both Ways
49
5.6
Where to Watch
Summary On the night of her college graduation, Natalie's (Lili Reinhart) life diverges into parallel realities. In one life, she becomes pregnant and must navigate motherhood as a young adult in her hometown and in the other she moves to LA to pursue her career. In both journeys, Natalie experiences life-changing love, pursues her dream career...
Directed By: Wanuri Kahiu
Written By: April Prosser
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 11 Critic Reviews
49
18% Positive
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
55% Mixed
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
27% Negative
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 11 Critic Reviews
49
18% Positive
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
55% Mixed
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
27% Negative
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
Fueled by the smart and knowing script, the sure-handed direction and a true star performance by Reinhart, “Look Both Ways” is a comfort-viewing experience with authentic and likable characters.
Look Both Ways feverishly whittles itself down to ensure that it keeps a wide berth from anything unsavory or controversial. The dishonesty that comes along with that timidity is a much tougher pill to swallow than the truths that might have arisen otherwise.
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 13 User Ratings
5.6
31% Positive
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
54% Mixed
7 Ratings
7 Ratings
15% Negative
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 13 User Ratings
5.6
31% Positive
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
54% Mixed
7 Ratings
7 Ratings
15% Negative
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
Emotional, sentimental, and related for the early 20s!
This movie is about pregnancy, marriage, and career issues in early adulthood. It’s really good to describe “anxiety, fear & distrust” issues to become parents and a married couple after college. They were a best friend with very different life: a) the girl is a strong academic planner and ambitious animator wanna-be, meanwhile b) the boy is not an academic planner but an ambitious drummer.
The narration is well-made by creating two separate stories throughout the entire movie. The first story is about a condition if they were a parent but not a married couple because of an unexpected pregnancy. The second story is a condition if they weren't a parent, not a married couple, and no one gets pregnant. The best thing is both of the stories are narrated at the same time to keep us looking both ways.
Easy to understand and related stories for the early adults (age 20s) are the main pros. Two separate narrations that run at the same time is another pro. The moral lesson is well-delivered through emotional and sentimental moments. Besides that, everything is just standard. The acting performance, music, visuals, and set are just typical. Personally, nothing special except my main motivation to see Lili Reinhart (Riverdale actress) and a lil bit of motivation to see Danny Ramirez (Top Gun: Maverick actor) as the main cast.
Nevertheless, this movie is fun to watch, sentimental, and has a lot of moral lessons but don’t expect too much. It's suitable for everyone in the early adults, age 20s. But, it can also be suitable for anyone who wants to feel nostalgia about the drama of age 20s. As always, I didn’t expect anything before watching. Enjoy this movie on Netflix and nothing to lose. Fresh from the oven! Just released on the 17th of August 2022!
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My daughter and I watch lots of rom coms together and this is one of the better ones. The writing is remarkably good as it lends truth to parallel storylines - one involving young parenthood, and the other involving a young animator's career. There is a dizzying amount of switching between these storylines, however the film is rewarding if you can keep up. It also has a strong message about there being no bad decisions at critical junctures in life, as you never know where the future will lead.
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Its affect is warm and reassuring, its methods for affirming that everything’s gonna be all right are cozy and tame, especially in regards to young motherhood.
Look Both Ways has a couple of things going for it, namely a compelling premise and the charm of Lili Reinhart (“Riverdale”) in the lead role. But the whole movie is a lie, and once you figure that out, the realization cuts into a lot of the pleasure.
Though leading lady Lili Reinhart does her best, Look Both Ways struggles to make a lasting impact with either of its dueling timelines.
Look Both Ways has nothing meaningful to say about any of the subjects it’s supposedly addressing. Even when the filmmakers get little details right (Natalie’s animation references are spot-on and very convincing), the movie is playing the supportive friend to its audience, patting viewers on the back and talking about how everything happens for a reason, and it’ll all turn out great.
Never mind that Look Both Ways seems to posit that, for women, child rearing and a career are in relative opposition — when Natalie comes to a fork in the road, the movie hardly lets her look both ways. It bulldozes her down one path, and then the other.
It was okay. Decent performance with a generic plot but not bad at the way it was presented. You’ll have a decent time with this but easily forgettable.
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Lili Reinhart is competent as a leading actress, if not necessarily outstanding. However, little of what is shown along the way has any noteworthy emotional resonance.
I mean, the sentiments of what it tries to explore are adequate and you can easily empathize, but the execution is too basic for you to actually care.
Of course it doesn't seek to be special, but its purpose as a content filler is all too noticeable.
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(Mauro Lanari)
"Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans," Lennon sang in "Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)," a quote from Allen Saunders' 1957 phrase and, most importantly, a track released on November 17, 1980, three weeks before Mark David Chapman shot and killed him on December 8. To analyze the teen movie directed by the Kenyan Kahiu it is not necessary to disturb Howitt ("Sliding Doors" 1998) and even less Kieślowski ("Blind Chance" 1981/'87); it is also irrelevant to allude to the butterfly effect. It is a reassuring film about two students in their last year of college (and not high school) who still use the condom as a contraceptive and not the safer pill, since they come from wealthy families able to manage any consequence of their reckless decisions. That same kind of families who are Netflix subscriber customers. Finally, lesbian scenes appear only for the sake of it.
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