That gloriously transparent quote is from Emily Dickenson. Would that the movie itself were equally transparent. On the surface it's about a young girl, Emma Roberts, who is extremely appealing, who wants to become a poet,convinced of her talent, who insinuates her way into the life of an older once-successful poet,John Cusack, and becomes his protogé. For while anyway.It's fundamentally an Entwiklungs story -- a naive girl leaves her suburban home and takes a job in an adult book store, is introduced to oddball characters, learns to smoke dope, shed her search for ultimate beauty and incorruptibility, and live in the unfolding moment.I was unable to watch the end but it was fairly clear where it was headed. I'd be surprised if: (1) Emma Roberts doesn't find that the source of true art lies within one's self; (2) John Cusack doesn't get over his brooding and rediscover his self confidence; (3) Roberts doesn't wind up with the quietly practical, practically quiet, boy who works in the same adult book store, Evan Peters; and (4) Roberts never reconciles with her parents, with whom she quarrels constantly and whose house she left in a low dudgeon.There are some memorable features on display here. One can't help notice that Emma Roberts is truly an attractively winsome young lady who may in fact be able to deliver a good performance. It's hard to tell from this single example. Another is that I'm sure glad I turned down that offer of a teaching job at Syracuse University because the movie illustrates exactly how sepulchral the weather and architecture of the city are. Another is that the film seems aimed at an audience, mostly female, of Roberts' age, who have not yet come face to face with urban debauchery only to fine that it's really pretty human underneath all that iconoclastic bluster. The cross-dressing homosexual Hispanic hair dresser turns out to be a somewhat nice guy.The movie is no masterpiece but it's well written for the message it carries and will probably keep your interest until the end.

I found it to be beautiful in a weird; indie punk kind of way. I thought it was well shot with strong supporting characters and a sense of inspiration through it all. Its definitely worth the watch. I especially enjoyed the character development that Emma's character goes through when she meets the kind of people she hadn't been exposed to in her liberal arts college. The slow progression from privileged and sheltered to open, fun, and less pompous than she was in the beginning felt genuine. The poetry that's read is slightly lacking, that is my only complaint. All in all, its beautiful

Well, the movie isn't all that bad, but c'mon give poor Emma a different role, in every single movie, she plays the same character, she is the troubled teenager, who has problems with her parents or has mental problems and later on she falls in love with a guy and in the end they happily stay together. In this movie, the falling in love thing was kind of secondary and the movie wasn't really about that until the very end.Amy (Emma Roberts), is a teenage girl, who is trying to become a successful poet, but her work hasn't been published yet, in any magazine, for that matter. In the movie, Amy was in 100% of the scenes, there was not a conversation between people without her interaction, the movie was only about her.The good thing is, the movie isn't actually all about Amy's work in a porn store, from the description of the movie, it seems like it is going to be another teenage movie filled with nasty sex jokes, but itš not the case.Amy's idol Rat Billings is not very friendly around her, Amy to him is just a crazy fan, who is too young and dumb to really understand life and what poetry is all about.The movie is kinda flat. Really, the ending is very basic and not interesting at all, Emma needs to expand her acting career and start playing some other characters, this is really getting old already.

I thought this movie was going to be bad. Like the other review on this movie i too was kept watching. I love Emma Roberts so that could be the reason why but i also think i was rooting for her to succeed in making her dream come true. The back and forth between her and Cusack was entertaining. Emma Roberts does a great job at inspiring you to strive for success in whatever it is that you want to do in life. There were a few scenes that made me laugh. Its worth watching to see if it suits your taste in movies. You will be surprised to find that you are able to watch it all the way through. Emma Roberts pretty face helped to keep watching too. She is a beautiful and talented actress.