In this better-than-average tween comedy aimed at the Latino market, Cierra Ramirez makes an impression as a precocious Seattle teenager who decides she’s ready for adulthood after her private-school teacher (Patricia Arquette) introduces her to coming-of-age stories.
Mom (the ever-reliable Eva Mendes) is too busy waitressing at a seafood restaurant and cleaning the home of the married gynecologist (Matthew Modine) she’s having an affair with to notice her daughter is plotting to lose her virginity and hop a bus to New York.
The direction, by Mexico’s Patricia Riggen (“Under the Same Moon”), doesn’t do justice to the fairly novel concept of a young woman consciously constructing her own coming-of-age scenario.
But the two lead actresses rise to the occasion when they’re finally forced to confront each other at the climax.