This movie COULD have been great! It COULD have....but instead, it was just tragically, incredibly depressing. This makes "Shawshank Redemption" look like a goofy comedy!
If you have depression, don't watch this, because it's truly awful.
The acting was fine. Sets, costumes, all that jazz....fine. But the story? No thank you please!
The hubs and I tried watching it together, but could only get about half an hour in. I decided to watch the whole thing by myself to see if it would get better.....and it does NOT! Almost every single character was the absolute WORST! Even the main character isn't exactly a great and upstanding person, but given she's in 7th grade, it's forgivable (to a point). This is the most tragic thing I've seen without involving actual physical/sexual abuse....and even that skirts the line a little.
As someone who *was* awkward in junior high, I found this very unrelateable; NO ONE is on this girl's side. Including her parents. Her father might as well not even exist for all the good he does, and her mother.....ooooooh, her mother!
This woman has got to be one of the worst possible mothers in all history. She doesn't even notice when her first daughter goes missing after the second daughter is found! SHE LITERALLY DOES NOT CARE. And this is AFTER she tore down the girl's clubhouse for ONE PARTY IN THE BACKYARD, because it was "ugly". Seriously, just the Worst without actually being physically abusive.
Her brother is overly obsessed with resumes and college, even for a high schooler. A little nerdy, but he doesn't really bug her.
The verbal and light (?) physical abuse she endures from the random boy at school is just plain weird. He's weird. Just....a weird character.
There is no hope at the end of this very dark tunnel. She doesn't find confidence or self-love for herself, and no love or acceptance from ANYONE (literally, it ends with the whole school calling her names during an assembly. The only person that she could have considered a friend, she alienates because she learns what "special people" actually means, I guess..? I really don't know what happened with that.
You would think that at least the faculty or teachers at her school would be concerned, but no; the one teacher we get to know even a little is the rudest, meanest snake of a teacher - again, without actual physical abuse - and I honestly do NOT understand how she keeps her job! The rest of the faculty might as well not exist, as far as this girl is concerned. The only redeeming thing is that, at the end, the headmaster/principle/whoever shushes the crowd when they start chanting. But he seems to do it out of his own annoyance, and not really out of protection for the girl.
Anyroad, I *really* hated this movie. Usually I like "fish out of water" and "super-awkward junior high/high school kid" movies or shows. Napoleon Dynamite? Great! The anime Watamote? Superb! But this....this was terrible. If they had leaned more into the comedy of these situations, and further from the uber-serious, it would have been better. But they went too far in the "My Girl" direction of very depressing....but even that one had a sweet end! This....this does not.
In the end, it felt exactly like what I said it did the first time I tried to watch it: It felt like I was reading the main character's very angsty diary, and that hopefully things weren't nearly as bad as they seem at the time.
All this girl wants is love and acceptance. Why no one will give it to her is a mystery.
One star for the acting, and one star for creativity, but that's it. Seriously, avoid if you watch movies as an escape. (I've seen B and C horror flicks I'd watch MULTIPLE TIMES before I ever gave this another glance! Trailer is VERY deceptive!)
If you have depression, don't watch this, because it's truly awful.
The acting was fine. Sets, costumes, all that jazz....fine. But the story? No thank you please!
The hubs and I tried watching it together, but could only get about half an hour in. I decided to watch the whole thing by myself to see if it would get better.....and it does NOT! Almost every single character was the absolute WORST! Even the main character isn't exactly a great and upstanding person, but given she's in 7th grade, it's forgivable (to a point). This is the most tragic thing I've seen without involving actual physical/sexual abuse....and even that skirts the line a little.
As someone who *was* awkward in junior high, I found this very unrelateable; NO ONE is on this girl's side. Including her parents. Her father might as well not even exist for all the good he does, and her mother.....ooooooh, her mother!
This woman has got to be one of the worst possible mothers in all history. She doesn't even notice when her first daughter goes missing after the second daughter is found! SHE LITERALLY DOES NOT CARE. And this is AFTER she tore down the girl's clubhouse for ONE PARTY IN THE BACKYARD, because it was "ugly". Seriously, just the Worst without actually being physically abusive.
Her brother is overly obsessed with resumes and college, even for a high schooler. A little nerdy, but he doesn't really bug her.
The verbal and light (?) physical abuse she endures from the random boy at school is just plain weird. He's weird. Just....a weird character.
There is no hope at the end of this very dark tunnel. She doesn't find confidence or self-love for herself, and no love or acceptance from ANYONE (literally, it ends with the whole school calling her names during an assembly. The only person that she could have considered a friend, she alienates because she learns what "special people" actually means, I guess..? I really don't know what happened with that.
You would think that at least the faculty or teachers at her school would be concerned, but no; the one teacher we get to know even a little is the rudest, meanest snake of a teacher - again, without actual physical abuse - and I honestly do NOT understand how she keeps her job! The rest of the faculty might as well not exist, as far as this girl is concerned. The only redeeming thing is that, at the end, the headmaster/principle/whoever shushes the crowd when they start chanting. But he seems to do it out of his own annoyance, and not really out of protection for the girl.
Anyroad, I *really* hated this movie. Usually I like "fish out of water" and "super-awkward junior high/high school kid" movies or shows. Napoleon Dynamite? Great! The anime Watamote? Superb! But this....this was terrible. If they had leaned more into the comedy of these situations, and further from the uber-serious, it would have been better. But they went too far in the "My Girl" direction of very depressing....but even that one had a sweet end! This....this does not.
In the end, it felt exactly like what I said it did the first time I tried to watch it: It felt like I was reading the main character's very angsty diary, and that hopefully things weren't nearly as bad as they seem at the time.
All this girl wants is love and acceptance. Why no one will give it to her is a mystery.
One star for the acting, and one star for creativity, but that's it. Seriously, avoid if you watch movies as an escape. (I've seen B and C horror flicks I'd watch MULTIPLE TIMES before I ever gave this another glance! Trailer is VERY deceptive!)