Love triangle with fun-loving females

VERY Good Girls is a coming-of-age tale that takes place over the course of a transformative New York summer, when two best girlfriends experience the trials and tribulations - some life-defining and others less so - that typically befall the average American teenager before she heads off to college.

These include teen angst, the quest for personal identity, conflict within the family, misunderstanding between friends and, of course, sex. Many of these topics have been handled - much better - in movies like Stand By Me (1986), Juno (2007), An Education (2009) and, most recently, Boyhood (2014). Very Good Girls, written and directed by Naomi Foner, isn't especially memorable and doesn't even make the cut in the chick-flick category, but it does have its interesting moments.

Many of those moments occur when Dakota Fanning - blond, pale and brooding - is on screen, channelling a strong sense of vulnerability. She is quietly convincing in the role of Lilly, a sweet-natured thinker who is egged on by her bolder best buddy Gerri into doing the nutty things teens do - like going skinny-dipping in broad daylight on a public beach, or making a pact to lose their virginity before the start of the fall semester.