The First Time

Jon Kasdan (son of Lawrence, brother of Jake) has crafted a smart, sensitive portrait of first love: the magic of it, the thrill of it, the awkwardness of it. Over the course of one weekend, high schoolers Aubrey (Britt Robertson) and Dave (rosy-cheeked Dylan O’Brien) meet, fall in love and have sex—to varying degrees of success. In the process, Kasdan both fabricates a fantasy (this is a romance, after all) and dismantles it, creating characters who are cute and articulate, altruistic and adventurous—a dream boy and girl—while exposing the reality of what it’s like to have sex for the first time (hint: not so dreamy).
Aubrey and Dave meet at a party. Or, rather, they meet in the alley behind a party, where Dave is rehearsing, out loud, how he is going to reveal his true feelings to his friend Jane (Victoria Justice). Aubrey quickly lets him know that she has a boyfriend (she does, and he’s a douche) and then counsels him that he’s going about it all wrong. Before Dave can take her advice, the party is broken up by cops, and he walks her home.
Over the next couple of days, he inadvertently spends the night in her room, they go on a pseudo double date, he almost gets in a fight with her boyfriend, and her parents go out, giving her the house to herself. She invites Dave over.