Review: Look Both Ways

Felicia Roberts

---

We often find ourselves at a crossroad – but do you ever imagine what life would be like if you had taken the opposite path?

Look Both Ways is a 2022 Netflix original movie starring Lili Reinhart, alongside Danny Ramirez, David Corenswet, Luke Wilson, and Nia Long.

Main Plot

Look Both Ways is a heartfelt comedy-drama-romance that follows a young woman, Natalie Bennett, who is in the midst of a life-changing and daunting moment. Her future could lead in two very different directions…

After Natalie hooks up with a friend on the eve of their college graduation, the story becomes deep and personal, with an especially relatable scene. Natalie is sat on the toilet, panicking to her best friend, who is on the edge of the bath trying to console her about the possibility of being pregnant. Meanwhile, everyone else is having fun celebrating.

This micro-moment leads to Natalie’s life splitting into two different realities that develop completely differently, yet similarly, at the same time. The first reality is that she is pregnant and chooses to keep the baby, meaning she leaves behind her dreams of moving to a big city in order to look after her daughter. The other reality is that Natalie isn’t pregnant and is free to do whatever she likes, but does this mean she gets everything she wants?

Appreciation to Mothers

My mum became pregnant with me at seventeen years old, and gave birth to me just after her 18th birthday. Growing up I always thought about the fact that I (in my own words) ‘ruined’ one of her biggest milestone birthdays, and her entrance to adulthood, whilst her peers had the time of their lives. I imagined my mum finding out about falling pregnant with me to be quite similar to the main character’s experience in Look Both Ways: intimidating and distressing. I imagined how it must have felt to have to grow up before your time, to put yourself second, and give up on your hopes and dreams.

Due to this belief, this film was highly thought-provoking for me.

Change of Perspective

Look Both Ways showed me that there is more than one path, and that even though they’re extremely different, there are also parallels. Some things are left to choice or free will, but the things that are meant to happen will happen. Maybe fate exists? Maybe there are no coincidences?

Every experience happens at the perfect moment, no matter the path you take and the choices you make, there will be a crossover. The phrase ‘everything happens for a reason’ may have some truth behind it; maybe every experience is ultimately a gift of learning and growing.

Things Come to Those Who Wait

I truly believed this growing up, but as I got older and saw the harsh realities of the world, I began to distrust the phrase. Look Both Ways gave me some of that light back: if you combine waiting patiently and working hard on improving your skill, then you can make any dream come true, no matter the situation. This is especially true in today’s day and age. Having a baby is no reason to stop striving for your dreams. Women can do both if they so wish.

So to the mums: you can still make your goals and childhood dreams happen. Not in spite of motherhood, but because you want to show your children the abilities they hold within themselves.

---

Featured image is courtesy of Gage Skidmore on Flickr. Image license found here. No changes were made to this image.