Movie Review: Sierra Burgess is a Loser (2018)

Plot: A case of mistaken identity results in unexpected romance when the most popular girl in high school and the biggest loser must come together to win over their crushes.

I swear there are a couple of films from Netflix that I adored like crazy, but right now I can only write about the ones I infinitely despised. There was the truly horrific The Kissing Booth, which was just plain awful, and a review you shall be getting, but then there is this movie, which isn’t bad acting per se and contains the adorable Noah Centineo (always a plus), but the damn message they portray for impressionable young teenagers is so terrible I was in the mood to smash things.

Dear teenage girls – CATFISHING IS WRONG. It is wrong if you are traditionally attractive and it is wrong if you are traditionally unattractive. It is wrong if you are insecure and it is wrong if you have all the issues. It is never right.

In a nutshell – Veronica (Kristine Froseth) is a little pain in the ass who passes out the phone number of Sierra Burgess (Shannon Purser) as a cruel joke to boys who ask for her number. Veronica is the typical terrible pretty girl you just know will rear her head in this type of movie. Sierra starts talking to Jamey (Centineo), a handsome guy from another school who also seems like a decent enough person. It escalates and eventually Jamey wants a date. At this time Sierra has roped in Veronica to play along, because naturally veronica is insecure about her intelligence and needs tutoring and blah blah blah, we’ve seen all of this before. Said date happens, and when Jamey tries to kiss Veronica, Sierra jumps in and kisses the boy.

Let’s just be clear on what assault it – it is any situation where something is done to another person without their consent, and yep, this is assault. I hate to play this game, but if the roles were reversed and Jamey kissed Sierra without her consent, there would have been hell to pay in the media.

RAGE. FURY. DEATH.

Also, it is only Hollywood that will cast Shannon Purser in roles for the “more unattractive” – I find her quite gorgeous and natural and it irritates me to no end that Hollywood has such warped ideas about feminine beauty. She has had some roles (#JusticeForBarb) which highlights her talent and gives her a place to deservedly shine. She really shouldn’t have done this, because it takes away from her talent and plays into the hands of creepy old men who think they can dictate the messages we send to teenagers. Anyway.

Then there is Centineo, who is the cutest thing to rear his head in a long time. Just, again, someone isn’t automatically a good person because they have someone with a disability in their family (his deaf brother), but let’s also move on from that. A way this movie should have ended is Jamey getting a restraining order against both female nutcases in this.

Last of the unholy trio of terrible messages to portray on young girls, is Kristine Froseth as Veronica, the cute preppy girl everyone hated in school. She has issues as well, she’s insecure about her intelligence and about the older douchebag she had the misfortune to date. So much stereotyping!

Finally, again, this movie is a terrible message to girls and please correct them if they ever think it is okay to misuse boys just because the media told them to.

Rating: 5/10

August 13, 2019 by Natasha Categories: 2018, Movies, movies, Review, Reviews, RomanceTags: Catfishing, Kristine Froseth, Movies, Netflix, Noah Centineo, RJ Cyler, Shannon Purser, Sierra Burgess, Sierra Burgess is a Loser, teenager 2 Comments

Series Review: Stranger Things Season 2 (2017)

If you’ve read my review of Season 1, well, then you know how much excited I felt for the arrival of Stranger Things Season 2. I love Stranger Things more than Eleven (Jane?) likes Eggo Waffles. I would have loved to binge the entire series, but work kept me so busy I had to act like a normal person and settle for one or two episodes each night.

The first season of Stranger Things was such a compelling hit because it was so unexpected. The shock of the upside down and the ingenuity of the writing contributed towards addiction and despondency I developed and experienced subsequently when I finished the measly amount of available episodes. Season two kept some of the elements, but loses that biggest appealing factor – the surprise. Sure the children are as adorable as ever, there are some seriously excellent scenes and flashbacks to the 80s, but the wow factor was missing save for the first episode and episodes eight and nine. The writing was off at times and felt lazy at times. Episode 7 irritated me so much I nearly didn’t finish the series. It was an absolute disaster. Removing Eleven from Hawkins and sending her to find her “sister” among a merry bunch of thieves for an entire episode? What a stupid power trip and unnecessary when there were a million other things that episode 8 could have focused on.

New additions Dacre Montgomery, Sadie Sink and Sean Astin were welcome additions. Dacre Montgomery seems particularly well cast as Billy the Bully – he’s an 80’s bully personified with his mullet, cigarettes, blaring rock music and really tight pants (circulation could not have been easy). He was particularly good in scenes where he loses his cool and you are able to see that this kid isn’t just a run of the mill bully; he has serious anger issues and is dangerous. Montgomery lived himself into the role and is utterly convincing – excellent work from this young Aussie who donned an American accent like it was no big thing. Sadie Sink is Max, who is in the unfortunate situation of being Billy’s stepsister. She hides her stress and worry and fear under some smart mouth comments, and I enjoyed her. It is also nice seeing another girl join the male dominated cast. Sean Astin as Bob was a sweetheart and I enjoyed seeing him in something again. He had some unlikely hero moments and although he was obviously written as a bit of a nerdy, offbeat character there was such goodness in him that you couldn’t help but root for him even though clearly he’s in the way of a romantic engagement I root for.

I really like that they promoted Joe Keery to series regular as Steve Harrington. Steve has the best character growth, some of the best lines (#FarrahFawcett) and is such a likeable guy. He’s evolved from the typical high-school prick. He still at odds with Jonathan Byers (Charlie Heaton) for the affections of Nancy Wheeler (Natalia Dyer) and in season one I was unsure who I would choose, but Steve is now clearly my favorite. He has some great moments where he gets all parental and authoritative with the younger kids, and I had such a good time witnessing him. I like the mentoring relationship he’s begun with Dustin, who in himself is so darn adorable with his pearly whites.

My favorite characters at this stage are Hopper, Steve and Dustin. My least favorite is Nancy because that girl must stop messing with Steve and Jonathan’s feelings. I won’t go on a rampage against her but my tolerance for girls who play with multiple men’s’ feelings are quite strong. She redeemed herself somewhat in the last episode, though she still makes me narrow my eyes.

I won’t discuss all the characters – seriously, my love is strong. Caleb McLaughlin gets more screen time and I loved it. Lucas is such a great character and revealed his inner strength when he stood up to Billy. Finn Wolffhard has a great career ahead of him – boy can act! Noah Schnapp is updated to series regular and boy, did little Will suffer greatly again. Poor kid. He managed to be creepy and still have the audience feel protective over him. Milly Bobby Brown is as fascinating as always – she taps so much emotion into her performance it seems unreal that she’s only 13 years old.

The 80s nostalgia makes me so nostalgic – and I wasn’t even around back then. That dance scene in the final episode made me so darn happy and reminiscent about my own primary school days – who hasn’t done those awful “close” dances? So much love. Oh, and Dustin’s hair in that episode. GOSH so darn cute.

The last two episodes make great strides in repairing the disaster of Episode 7. It is still more lopsided than it needs to be, and the writing needs a more structured approach in season 3. I would love to have Billy get involved in what is really going on in Hawkins, that would help wipe that punk ass attitude off him. I would also like to have him evolve a bit more, become a slightly decenter person while maintaining the ‘tude. If Eleven cannot be called Jane, that would also be great. Maybe Steve can get someone who isn’t Nancy because she doesn’t deserve him? More Dustin too, with his pearly whites.

Rating: 7/10

November 3, 2017 by Natasha Categories: 2017, SeriesTags: Caleb McLaughlin, Cara Buono, Charlie Heaton, Dacre Montgomery, David Harbour, demogorgon, Eleven, Finn Wolffhard, Galen Matazzaro, Halloween, Hawkins, Joe Keery, Matthew Modine, Millie Bobby Brown, Milly Bobby Brown, Natalia Dyer, Netflix, Noah Schnapp, Paul Reisser, Randy Havens, Sadie Sink, Scientific fiction, SciFi, Sean Astin, Series, Shannon Purser, Spooky, Stranger Things, Supernatural, The Duffer Brothers, The Upside Down, Winona Ryder 6 Comments