This review contains minor spoilers.
“I hope it makes you feel seen and understood. I hope it pushes you to be honest and vulnerable, even when it hurts.”
Shannon Purser’s tweet on the release day of her newest project “Sierra Burgess is a Loser” echoes the intended message of the movie; a high schooler who does not meet society’s standard expectation for beauty trying to find romance and a new friendship in unlikely places. Unfortunately, this glittering message did not translate on screen.
In the past few weeks the Internet has been buzzing in anticipation for this movie. This is partly because watchers hoped it would succeed where “Insatiable” failed in depicting fat representation is a positive and healthy light. Hype for “Sierra Burgess is a Loser” was also certainly helped with the recent popularity of the rom-com’s love interest Noah Centineo. The actor recently starred in a different Netflix movie, “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before,” and since then, the Internet can’t stop talking about his charm. While his role in “Sierra Burgess is Loser” was at times, adorably awkward, it didn’t showcase his talent the way previous projects of his have.
Throughout the movie Sierra Burgess, played by actress Shannon Purser, most famously known for her role as Barb in the Netflix Original “Stranger Things,” is trying to find something special about herself. At first, this is simply a quest to find an enticing extra-curricular to put on her college applications, but when she starts to exchange text messages with a football player from a nearby high school named Jamey, she develops a fondness for the special relationship.
The movie quickly becomes problematic however, when Sierra allows Jamey to believe that she is someone else. Namely, Sierra’s bully, a popular cheerleader named Veronica. Though Sierra knows exactly who she’s texting the entire film, Jamey is under the impression that he’s falling for someone else.
The message that the movie is trying to send is clear; appearances aren’t what make love real. Conversations and emotional connections are. To some extent, they are successful in delivering that message. By the end of the movie, Sierra starts to understand that her lies are what caused most of her problems, not her appearance. She begins to acknowledge her own insecurities, in the hopes of overcoming them.
Still though, this message gets muddled in the drama that Sierra creates trying to keep up false pretenses. Instead of a cute rom-com, it quickly turns into the uncomfortable encouragement of cat-fishing. Any positive themes the writers are trying to convey are also clouded by the homophobic and transphobic jokes sprinkled throughout the movie, plus a scene wherein the main character pretends to be deaf to get out of a sticky situation.
Many fans also hoped that this movie would finally showcase a healthy, supportive female relationship between Sierra and Veronica as they worked to overcome their petty personal drama and understand each other’s perspective. However, this hope is squashed when Veronica spends the majority of the movie belittling the protagonist and Sierra, making a rash and monumental decision in the name of revenge, humiliates Veronica in front of the whole school in an extremely inappropriate manner.
Other than a few adorably awkward lines and an exciting performance from Sierra’s best friend Dan, played by RJ Cyler, this movie doesn’t have much to offer. It falls flat in most areas and the main character participates in extremely problematic acts such as cyber-bullying and even a scene that bordered on sexual assault in what was supposed to be a comedic, romantic moment.
These scenes and more leave a bad taste in a watcher’s mouth while also making it uncomfortable to sit through the resolution of the movie and see Sierra, who clearly has not properly learned her lesson, get a happy ending. Netflix may be trying to up their rom-com count, but this was a miss for the production studio.
5/10
Jordyn Dees // Opinion Editor
