That the reach of "All I Want" (a.k.a. "Try Seventeen") exceeds its grasp wouldn't be so damning if it weren't for the fact that the movie isn't reaching that far. Elijah Wood plays 17-year-old virgin Jones Dillon, his very name sounding like an indie film contrivance. The shell-shocked Jones drops out of college on his first day and, lugging a large trunk behind him, moves into an old apartment house that is sort of a de facto artists colony. His neighbors include Brad (Aaron Pearl), a gay painter with a serious cowboy fetish (and who, it's revealed later, can restore a totaled BMW to like-new condition seemingly in a matter of hours); Jane (Franka Potente), a surly photographer getting over a bad relationship; and Lisa (Mandy Moore), an aspiring actress and least eccentric of the building's residents.Jones has some eccentricities of his own, like writing letters to a father he never knew and slipping into sexy fantasies that come to life on screen but evaporate before things get too sexy. The letters to Dad are never mailed. Instead, they are collected in that trunk of his (real luggage for his metaphorical baggage). Lisa tries to seduce Jones, but Jones, naturally, finds the grumpy, dark-haired Jane more intriguing. Between Jones' interactions with his neighbors are frequent calls to his mother back in Texas (Elizabeth Perkins, one of the movie's high points), who wanders around her large home wearing peignoirs and belting back highballs. She nags him to come home; he nags her to tell him about his father. Hang up. Repeat."All I Want" is an indie comedy, but it never quite settles on the type of indie comedy it wants to be. It's mostly quirky, though there are jarring attempts at camp, like when Jones goes to a second-hand store run by Deborah Harry, done up like she's in a John Waters movie and acting accordingly. Often, though, it's just pretentious — painfully so at times, especially when Mandy Moore is speaking. Her acting is competent, but the mannered dialog sounds false coming from her pouty lips. To steal a line from critic Nathan Rabin, you can hear the writing."All I Want" reminded me of the indie comedies that crowded video store shelves in the 1990s, the kind that starred Keanu Reeves, Eric Stoltz, Suzy Amis and Harry Dean Stanton: movies that were too off-center for mainstream consumption, too safe to satisfy an art house audience. "All I Want" is not much worse than those movies, but it's not any better, either.

This movie is a total disaster. Possibly the only good thing about this movie is the cast- Elijah Wood, Mandy Moore. I'm not a very big fan of Elijah or Mandy, but I've seen a couple of their movies, and they shine in their own ways. They're really great actors and even in this movie their acting is praiseworthy. The starting of the movie is... let's say a bit weird, yeah but that's okay sometimes. This evening i was watching this movie with a friend of mine. We thought why don't we stick with it a bit longer, it might get interesting later on, but we were so wrong. The script (although I doubt if there's any) is awful, the plot... well, i don't have a single clue about that! We watched the whole movie just to figure out- What the hell it's really about! It's just so boring, so annoying and kiddish with no real climax and the sudden (happy?)ending was something that you'll least expect... So terribly unrealistic! There's many "feel good" romantic comedies out there that will leave you with a "feeling" which lingers for sometime. The only feeling i have now after watching this movie is disappointment/confusion. Some of the scenes have no connection to the main storyline at all and it seemed like i was flipping through TV channels. There's a lot of good movies out there. Don't waste your time or money or good mood. 1 out of 10 and this is certainly going to my "worst movies ever" list.

Why this movie has two titles, I have no idea. Although personally, I would stick to "Try Seventeen" since it stems from the best, most memorable line of the movie."Try Seventeen" focuses on seventeen-year-old Jones (Elijah Wood) who tries to start his own life away from his mother, with hopes of finding the father he doesn't really have memories of. His infatuation with finding his father is so great that he constantly types him letters and keeps them in a trunk that he brings with him wherever he goes.He settles down in an apartment, where two beautiful ladies, a blooming actress and a frustrated photographer find themselves falling for the weird, new boy-next-door and Jones' world no longer revolves around the fantasy world that he writes about to his dad, but around the real world, the world he has been refusing to actually live in, the world that he has been running away from all of his life."Try Seventeen" is a witty coming-of-age movie like no other. Although it may be hard to fall in love with the movie the first time you watch it because of its quirky antics and the strange things that Jones dreams up, it does get better.If it failed to get you the first time, give it a second chance. You will no longer be disappointed.

I haven't said there are spoilers, because there is absolutely nothing you could call a twist. But if you haven't seen it, read this then DO! I think this is one of the best coming-of-age comedies there will ever be. Not because it was completely hilarious, but just because the content was honest, realistic and held many excellent performances. It starts with the very dreamy (in the out-of-it sense, though he is pretty fit) Elijah Wood (Jones Dillon, DON'T call him Frodo =D) turning up at collage and promptly deciding, 'f*** this, I'm out.' and simply leaving. It sounds ridiculous, but for some reason it just made sense. No-one noticed, especially not his parents, but we don't know that yet. He shacks up at this rather insane little building of flats, handing over $12,000 without a second thought and buying a load of furniture. I know some people are thoroughly annoyed by films that have no direction, and my fellow watcher said they were waiting for something to happen. But I think this movie just had so many perfect little events and witticisms that it did not matter in the slightest. My favourite scene is probably when the highly unpleasant sons of his over-flirtatious furniture-seller turn up and, instead of delivering his furniture begin to chuck it onto the sidewalk. Then, his gay (as yet unbeknown to us) cowboy downstairs-neighbour comes out with a huge gun as tells them in so many words that if they don't put down the furniture and p**s off, he'll blow off their man-hoods.All in all, there is drama without soap-opera, comedy without smut and one of the most unplaceable accents in the history of cinema. It is sweet and adult at the same time, with enough angst not to be, you know, teen-angsty and the most corn-free family issues you could wish for. Also, his imagination plays part from time to time, delivering nude art teachers, bagel-delivering belly dancers and a bazooka for blowing away people who p**s him off. His character is very edgy, one second he's this adorably vulnerable little thing, the next he's a smoking, gun-toting revenge-wrecker. (Not to be taken utterly literally). You couldn't predict a single word his character is going to say, it's really strange. He arches from miserable little-boy-lost to independent risk-taker, it's a joy to see. Rigt at the end, I was so sure the movie would be unique in, the girl of his dreams gets away, and DOESN'T come to her senses. I really did, and I thought it was great. But it didn't matter. I failed to understand why she went back to the guitar-player, leather clad love-rat anyway. I really went off her, she sleeps with him when he's driving her up to the city (to her love-rat) as she's broken her leg, then acts like he's being the one in the wrong when he tells her it wasn't nothing and she shouldn't be doing this. DUH! How stupid are some women?! Ah well, it's all good in the end.I have just one qualm, during the photo-shoot scene when she's telling him about herself and vice-versa, I swear her shirt changes! One minute, it's a black vest with a long sleeved net thing under it, then it's not netting, its see-through shiny stuff. The it changes back. It's not the light, thank you! I swear it isn't. Any thoughts, anyone? Anyway, 10/10!! Loved it a lot, and Elijah Wood is really hot! Never noticed before!