You know, there’s this feeling you feel as a teenager - it’s hard to describe… But it’s sad, it’s beautiful and it’s rather tragic. It is the feeling of being hopelessly in love.

It’s crazy, because as a teenager you really don’t know what to do with this feeling. You’re too scared to talk to ‘her’ - the idea of perfection in your mind. When you do somehow manage to talk, you make a fool out of yourself. You believe that she is the one and yet you cannot even approach her! That’s exactly the case with Gregory, the lead character of this wonderful film, Gregory’s Girl.

Gregory, you see, is deeply, wildly and rather madly in love with Dorothy; this new girl in school. She is blonde, pretty and perfect - so God damn perfect that he doesn’t even stand a chance with her! He tries his best to get closer to her, to catch her attention, to ask her out and yet, to his dismay, he fails every God damn time. Now how many times as a teenager did you feel like that? I am one, I know this has happened to me, and boy, I swear, never in my life do I want to feel like this ever again! Never. Ever.

And if all that wasn’t enough, do you know what makes this worse?

Dorothy recognises Gregory - she talks to him, she understands his feelings towards her and yet, she doesn’t like him back. She is wiser than him and understands the silly thing called “love”. She knows that Gregory isn’t the only guy in love with her; so are a countless others - after all, she is the ONLY girl in school who got into the football team. She talks back to all of these guys and is nice to all of them, but at the same she ensures that she doesn’t fall for any single one of them.

Of course, that doesn’t mean shit to the guys. No one just gives up simply because the so-called love of their life doesn’t love them back. They try, try and try. Gregory, in particular, tries a lot. He asks his sister for advice - but that’s just funny, because she is a 10 year old who knows nothing about love. Then, he asks his best-friend for advice - but even that’s just funny, because all this best-friend cares about is food. Gregory’s life, henceforth, is a mess.

One day, however, things change when Dorothy suddenly asks Gregory to practice football with her - to Dorothy this might only mean football, but to Gregory this means the world. Driven to believe that Dorothy somehow, for some God forsaken reason, is into him, Gregory finally manages to ask her out. To his surprise, she even says yes to him!

Now, wouldn’t that be wonderful? The girl of your dreams says yes to you. She; the perfect one, the one you’re so in love with - she says yes to going out with you! That is probably the best thing that can happen to anyone and it happened to Gregory!

Well, yes, except, not really… You see, as I mentioned before, Dorothy gets love. She knows that Gregory isn’t in love with her - he just thinks he is. Plus, more importantly, she herself isn’t in love with him - to her, Gregory is just a slow, awkward boy. So, what Dorothy does is that she sends Gregory on a wild goose chase that ends up being one of the most bittersweet moments I’ve ever seen.

It’s sweet because Gregory comes to realise that he really doesn’t know who he is in love with. It’s sweet because Dorothy helps Susan, a friend of hers who has had a crush on Gregory for a long time, to get closer to him. Most importantly, it’s sweet because Dorothy helps Gregory become more confident.

But, then, it’s bitter because seeing all this happen, you realise that Gregory really will never get Dorothy. You realise that sometimes, no matter how much you think you’re in love with a girl, the truth is that you are not in love with her.

The movie is all about this bittersweet feeling - and that, exactly, is why it is worth watching.

You see, there are plenty of films about falling hopelessly in love as a teenager - many such films are good; some, in fact, are even great. But, rarely do any of these films project the truth as realistically as Gregory’s Girl does. It, in the quirkiest, weirdest and craziest manner possible, offers laughs in unexpected ways, helps describe one of the most important aspects of growing up and really defines what it means to be a teenager. By doing so, the movie, in turn, becomes real. And wonderful. And excellent.

If you aren’t planning on watching Gregory’s Girl, you aren’t doing yourselves any favours. Give it a try. You’ll be glad you did.