First of all, I would like to make it clear that I have not read this book, nor did I see any previews for the film before I rented it.
I was very interested in the journey of the main character as a young and somewhat promiscuous girl coming out of high school, and trying to find herself and deal with her many issues through the use of an anonymous blog. I actually would have given this movie about a 7, UNTIL, I was completely blindsided by the absolutely ridiculous PSA that was tacked on as a twist ending. Those last 5 minutes ruined the entire movie for me. I thought that the story of this young girl dealing with her demons and coming to terms with how difficult and confusing life can be was honest and easy to relate to. However, there is absolutely no reason that this story needed to take such a drastic turn into some type of abducted girl/murder mystery in literally the last 5 minutes of the film. Please do not misunderstand me, I love a good twist! However this was in no way good, or added anything positive or interesting to the story.
In my opinion, the ending felt like some poorly made public service announcement, warning parents of the dangers of social media. Granted, those dangers are real, but this was an awful way to portray them! Not only did this character's change her own name, and the names of everyone she wrote about, there was no evidence that she wrote about where she lived or worked. Furthermore, none of the 3 men that she became involved with during the course of the film, she met online. Therefore, what the hell was the point of adding such a ridiculous, and honestly deflating, ending to an otherwise interesting movie!? I am aware of the danger of creating this alternate life online, but I do not feel that in this particular case, it made any speck of coherent sense with the rest of the story.
I rated this film a 5 because I did like the main character, and felt that all of the actors involved gave a good effort in their performances. However, if I could rate the ending only, it would receive a something like a -2, and that's being generous. I blame no one other than the writer/director for this lower score.
I was very interested in the journey of the main character as a young and somewhat promiscuous girl coming out of high school, and trying to find herself and deal with her many issues through the use of an anonymous blog. I actually would have given this movie about a 7, UNTIL, I was completely blindsided by the absolutely ridiculous PSA that was tacked on as a twist ending. Those last 5 minutes ruined the entire movie for me. I thought that the story of this young girl dealing with her demons and coming to terms with how difficult and confusing life can be was honest and easy to relate to. However, there is absolutely no reason that this story needed to take such a drastic turn into some type of abducted girl/murder mystery in literally the last 5 minutes of the film. Please do not misunderstand me, I love a good twist! However this was in no way good, or added anything positive or interesting to the story.
In my opinion, the ending felt like some poorly made public service announcement, warning parents of the dangers of social media. Granted, those dangers are real, but this was an awful way to portray them! Not only did this character's change her own name, and the names of everyone she wrote about, there was no evidence that she wrote about where she lived or worked. Furthermore, none of the 3 men that she became involved with during the course of the film, she met online. Therefore, what the hell was the point of adding such a ridiculous, and honestly deflating, ending to an otherwise interesting movie!? I am aware of the danger of creating this alternate life online, but I do not feel that in this particular case, it made any speck of coherent sense with the rest of the story.
I rated this film a 5 because I did like the main character, and felt that all of the actors involved gave a good effort in their performances. However, if I could rate the ending only, it would receive a something like a -2, and that's being generous. I blame no one other than the writer/director for this lower score.