TEEN ANGST WITH A NEW EDGE

THERE’S A MOMENT HALFWAY THROUGH The Edge of Seventeen that sums up just how messy life has gotten for Nadine (Hailee Steinfeld). She has stolen her mom’s car and parked it at an elementary-school playground. She is seated on a slide crafting a desperate message to a classmate who barely knows her name, offering to hook up with him in the back room of the pet store where he works. Then she thinks better of it—and accidentally hits Send.

The scene is funny, but