John Hughes' legacy of insightful, character-driven high school comedies lives on in writer/director Kelly Fremon Craig's enormously satisfying debut film. Hailee Steinfeld is richly textured as Nadine, a teenage loner who goes into an emotional nosedive when her only friend (Haley Lu Richardson) and golden-boy brother (Blake Jenner) start dating. As Nadine lashes out at everyone in her life, from her exasperated widow mother (Kyra Sedgwick) to a sardonic teacher (Woody Harrelson) and the awkward boy trying to get her attention (a winning Hayden Szeto), Craig's mastery of character and dialogue dovetail with Steinfeld's expressive performance to give us one of the most hilariously imperfect teen heroines in memory.