Is Divergent Worth It? (short answer: nope)

I am the most likely the only teenager who does not enjoy the Divergent franchise.  I find it tacky and ridiculous.  The books lack character development and decent writing.  I also became rather bored with the halfhearted story lines.  This boredom haunted me again when I was dragged to the Divergent movie over the weekend.  Before I entered the theater, I had hope.  I had hope that the screenwriters would find a way to reconstruct Veronica Roth's characters and ideas so that they would be, put bluntly, good.  All I was hoping for was good, not even great.  

The film I ended up watching barely scratched my optimistic expectations.  The acting was mediocre at its best- what the cast possessed in good looks was apparently overcompensation for skill (coughcoughTheoJamescoughcough- yes he was attractive, no he was not a good thesp).  The performances did not feel genuine.  Perhaps this was partially the fault of poor characterization that was carried over from the (inappropriately and needlessly) popular series.

The main character, Tris, was sightly less of a drag in the movie than she was in the books (thank you Shailene Woodley). Nonetheless, I soon tired of her.  And Tris and Four had very, very minimal onscreen chemistry.  Not that they seemed to have any in the books.  I personally find the relationship between Four and Tris to be somewhat alarming. The following is an actual quote from Divergent: 
"'My first instinct is to push you until you break, just to see how hard I have to press.'" he says, his fingers squeezing at the word break. My body tenses at the edge in his voice, so I am coiled as tight as a spring, and I forget to breathe." 
So, this older boy is holding a sixteen year old girl and telling her how much he desires to snap her in half.  Naturally, she is extremely attracted to him and they have a totally healthy relationship. Also, if you've read the books, you've probably noticed that Tris talks a lot about her breathing and her enduring struggle to do so. 

Also: I cannot be the only one who finds the entire premise of the books to be ridiculous.  Being Divergent simply means that you can have multiple personality traits.  A person can be- get this- both honest and selfless.  Or both reckless and smart. Mind blowing. Being Divergent is really an innovative conecept.

Although Divergent did a decent job delivering thrills, when the knives stopped flying the movie became dull.  I specifically remember fishing my phone out at one point to see how much longer I had to sit through the movie (alas, I was only halfway done). Cue the yawns.

As the only teenager alive with common sense when it comes to Divergent, I urge you, kind world citizen and potential movie-goer, to skip this film.  If two roads (leading to different theaters) diverge, choose the road not taken and avoid Divergent.
(That was a Robert Frost joke, by the way. Deliberate humor. ANOTHER thing the film lacked. Although there was a good deal of unintentional humor.)