Size 13 Nikes Kicks Netflix Into a New Drift

Amanda Perez and Maria Puyana

Release date: September 13, 2019

Director: Nzingha Stewart

Starring: Ava Michelle (Jodi Kreyman), Sabrina Carpenter (Harper Kreyman), Griffin Gluck (Jack Duckleman), Paris Berelc (Liz),  Luke Eisner(Stig Mohlin), and Clara Wildery (Kimmy Stitcher). 

MPAA Rating: PG

Rating: C-

Netflix has introduced us to another original this fall, focusing once again on the life of a high school student. Jodi Kreyman is a 6’1” 16-year-old who is fully self-conscious with her height and wishes that it did not impact her life as much as it does. This teen rom-com shows us the life of Jodi as she struggles with friendships, a love triangle and most importantly, her confidence.

Taking place in New Orleans, we are introduced to her hometown and her childhood best friends, Jack Ducleman and Fareeda. Jodi has been Ducleman’s long-time crush since they were little, but even though she cares for him deeply, she makes it clear that she will never return the same feelings.

Things start to take a different spin once Stig Mohlin, a foreign exchange student from Sweden, enters the picture. Stig checks off all the boxes in Jodi’s “dream boyfriend” checklist, and she immediately falls for him. He is handsome, talented and taller than her. Jodi tries her hardest to get noticed by him but continues to watch as her childhood archnemesis silently, Liz, steals him all for herself.

When Jodi is about to lose hope and rethinks why she ever liked him in the first place, she gets into a tricky situation that leads to Stig and her being in a room, alone. Jodi then has figure out who she is.

“The show was good and it taught us that it doesn’t matter if you are tall or short people will always find something wrong with you, but just know that you are perfect in your way. The only person that has to approve of you is yourself,” sophomore Amanda Perez-Romero said.

Before ¨Tall Girl¨ was released, the trailer received a lot of criticism on social media. Some thought that making a movie about the struggles of a tall, thin and pretty girl in a society where it is considered beautiful was insensitive. The movie attempted to tackle the struggle of teenagers and their insecurities. However, when they attempted to demonstrate the issues current teenagers face, it was not captivating enough. They had such a great chance to portray difficulties and we believe that they completely wasted it. Height is not a big deal in high school, and we feel as though if they would have depicted greater insecurities or if they would have used more realistic issues, they would have done something great to change the environment and views at high schools all over.

¨As far as rom-coms go, it was good. The issue they were trying to attack was done well but I feel like they should have aimed for an issue that’s more prominent. I do not think they accurately represent tall people’s experience and the actual high school experience including bullying, fights and other important subjects that relate to real-life as it should,¨ sophomore Laura Hernandez said.

Throughout the movie, the acting was ordinary. It was not exceptional, but the actors were still able to portray their roles accurately. One main issue was the use of unrealistic actors whose beauty standards were far above the norm. This disproved the moral of the film, which is surrounded by dealing with insecurities as a teenager. If they would have hired more realistic looking actors, the movie might have reached its potential. If they had also enhanced the script, the movie’s success would be even greater. The script was mediocre and not as good as expected, and there were many cringe-worthy moments throughout the film. The whole story was not only predictable, but completely unfocused on the true morals being taught.

Reaching such a large platform, ¨Tall Girl¨ had been long awaited by Netflix viewers, and was wrongfully over hyped. All in all, we do not recommend ¨Tall Girl¨as your next watch. [powr-twitter-feed id=143cc876_1570764765505]