A Girl Like Her (2015) Reviews

• Powerful, if somewhat flawed

  lizab-506-9091702016-05-31

  Saw this movie by chance - was looking for something to watch, opened up Netflix, and it was on the main screen as a suggested title. With a cast of mostly unknowns, I wasn't expecting much. But I was surprised. The acting was mostly very good. Lexi Ainsworth was very believable as the bullied Jessica. I cried along with her, as someone who was also bullied in high school. (To a lesser extent, and before cell phones and social media were really a thing yet.) For the most part, the story was believable and moving. My only problem with it was that it reinforces the false assumption that bullies usually have a difficult home life. This was the kind of information that was generally believed to be true back when I was in school (graduated high school in 2002), but we know a lot more today. Most bullies come from good families and have good lives. By the end of the film, I felt like we were supposed to feel a certain amount of sympathy for Avery. But despite how things were portrayed - her life was really not that bad at all. I felt that a lot of things were exaggerated. Avery wasn't bullying Jessica because her parents fought sometimes and her mom was a little controlling, she was bullying Jessica because she was a cruel, mean, heartless, narcissistic brat. No one with a conscience could treat another person that way. Period. No sympathy for bullies.

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• See, discuss, promote; this film needs it

  StevePulaski2015-03-28

  Amy S. Weber's "A Girl Like Her" is destined to be one of the most powerful films nobody sees in 2015, and that is a troubling thing. Considering it's a film about bullying in high school, and so many organizations and awareness groups have pushed bullying up to the forefront of issues in schools, the fact that "A Girl Like Her" enters theatrical distribution concerning that issue in an unadulterated, raw form and has received no publicity is something I cannot understand. The fact that its theatrical gross won't come close to that of "The DUFF," this year's other teen film that just masquerades in its own artificiality and silliness, is another thing that angers me. This is a film that needs to be seen and discussed, and that's not something I demand often after seeing a film. Even after gathering my thoughts on "A Girl Like Her," a film that shook me on a subject I'm normally not very shaken by, I hold by my thoughts that the importance of this film is immense. Through its portrayal of bullying, the effects on the victim, the effects on the bullier, and the effects on the friends and family of the victim, Weber, who also serves as the writer, leaves no opportunity to humanize or explore unturned. She makes sure that by the end of the film, if you can believe it, we can sympathize with the bullier in a way that's comparative to that of the victim. We open by seeing Jessica Burns (Lexi Ainsworth), a high school sophomore who is lonely and ostracized, clinging to her only friend Brian Slater (Jimmy Bennett), who comforts her emotionally. Jessica has been a social pariah ever since her once best friend Avery Keller (Hunter King, who looks like a young Reese Witherspoon and mirrors her talent as well) became her worst nightmare. Following the common drift that eventually happens with old friendships, Avery turned into a nasty, physically and emotionally abusive soul, taunting Jessica through hallway conversations, passive-aggressive altercations, and vile text messages and emails demanding she simply kill herself. One day, Jessica decides to take her advice, swallowing an entire bottle of pills and landing herself in a coma. What nobody but Jessica and Brian know is that they have records of all of Avery's vicious bullying thanks to a small, pin-sized camera that Jessica would attach to her blouse every day. These records, among many different testimonies from parents, teachers, and students alike, come about when a documentary crew visiting the school works to examine your typical American high school. The film is shot partly with a found footage aspect, mostly during the bullying scenes, and partly in the mockumentary filmic style. The style here is a tremendous asset, as it provides the film with a whole new layer of authenticity and naturalism. The videography isn't nauseating, but all too real, and the actors at hand play the naturalistic element so well that the style at hand can work germane to something in the film. One of the many incredible things Weber does with "A Girl Like Her" is she doesn't segregate her focus; she's too smart to stick to Jessica and Brian's side of the story whilst ignoring Avery's. The latter half of the film focuses on Avery's homelife, with an incessant homemaker mother, a passive father, and a closeted older brother, all of which alienating her and providing her with demands and expectations she cannot fulfill and, more importantly, doesn't want to. Combine that with friends loyal because of their mutual possessions and heavy bank accounts, and you have a girl who is mean and nasty because she simply doesn't have any true people in her life she can connect to - and the one she had has now become her worst enemy. King portrays this character with unbelievable conviction, especially with a performance so early in her career. She's venomous and thoroughly contemptible, but does it with the makeup-heavy eyes, the sarcastic mannerisms, and the irritable behavior and conduct of a bratty high school teenager that actually exists. King's portrayal of Avery doesn't feel cookie-cutter to other portrayals of high school bullies; it feels meaner and rawer, and that's the essence of "A Girl Like Her." Weber also shows how Jessica's suicide attempt and subsequent coma effect everyone around her. In the real world, news reports show us the hysteria of the situation, interviewing parents for a few seconds expressing their sorrow and having principals and faculty of schools spit out their own testimonies, which now seem like they were chosen from a manufactured list of responses. We see Jessica's parents sobbing by her bedside, struggling to regain the footing they need to stay strong for Jessica's younger sister, and their own personal cries for help all portrayed in a way that's revealing and human. Weber doesn't pull emotionally manipulative tactics, making us cry over broad circumstances and ideas instead of specific moments, and if she does, she gives scenarios development to make them that way. "A Girl Like Her" is an uncommonly raw picture; a film that comes out of nowhere (I had no knowledge of its existence until about a day and a half ago) and packs an unexpected sucker-punch. While other films love to paint teenagers in broad-strokes and narrow-minded generalizations, "A Girl Like Her" paints specifics in its characters. Out of everything, Weber's biggest accomplishment is not only attempting to make the vile bully of the film somewhat sympathetic and understandable in the end, but succeeding at that, providing the film with one of many different perspectives to examine bullying through. A Girl Like Her is one of the first films on bullying to go beyond sloganeering and emotionally manipulative scenarios. The much-anticipated, highly-publicized documentary Bully in 2011, while effective on some levels, left audience with little insight into the bulliers. A Girl Like Her is the first film of 2015 you owe yourself to see.

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• See it, this is an important movie

  bgarts2015-03-29

  I was a little disheartened reading some of the movie reviews for this feature and the overall metascore. This was a powerful indie flick that was financed through crowdsourcing on a shoestring budget. It does not have big names and doesn't need them. The kids play their parts professionally. The raw emotion is there and for anyone who has been on the receiving end of the emotional beat down that happens here, this movie should hit a nerve. It did with me. The only downsides to it are the shaky-cam effect that comes with a faux documentary. It's a bit heavy-handed, so to speak, but tolerable. Avery's Mom is a little over the top in the crazy Mom department, but I'm sure this type exists. At least it does on reality TV. Avery's Dad is a doormat and gets stepped on most of the scenes, but I don't think he truly got hurt when the mother berated him for not washing his hands after using the bathroom. I think there could have been something more compelling in that argument to side us against the Mother in addition to her other character flaws. This movie will affect you, director Amy Weber grabs you from the very beginning and draws you into the disturbing side of high school cliques. It had me choked up many times, angry other times, sympathetic most of the time and I left knowing I was right when I thought this movie had potential to make a difference. Go see it, bring your pre-teen and/or teen.

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• The message was loud and clear!

  subxerogravity2015-04-11

  It was an interesting take on the subject of Bullying. After Jessica Burns' attempted suicide, A film crew doing a documentary on her school, begins to focus on what made her do it and the the fingers point to Avery Keller, a popular sophomore who for some reason made Jessica her victim, the documentary then takes a look at the life of Avery Keller to see what makes her tick. The movie pushed all the right buttons for me, I felt it was evenly laid out as we got to see what Jessica is going through which is the more favorable issue, but we also got to see where Avery was coming from. The movie does not attempt to sugar coat her villainy, but we all needed to know what was fueling the fire in order to understand it. Not bad

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• Hurt people, hurt people

  tracey_j482016-01-22

  Whoaaa...this was MIND BLOWING! It is based on a true story about a girl who was relentlessly bullied at school and couldn't take it any more. She and her friend filmed the bullying before she tried to take her own life. THIS SHOULD BE COMPULSORY in every school without preaching. I DARE you to not be floored!!! The acting was brilliant and the documentary style really well done. It gave a very real effect and made you feel so much more and connect with the characters. I don't know why this hasn't been more popular or well known than what it is but it deserves every star. I will definitely watch it again and tell people about it.

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