Relevant,Honest, Relatable and a bit Ambiguous

A Girl Like Her is an unrelenting drama by writer, producer, Amy S. Miller. Relevant more today than ever, this film is about the rampant hot button topic of bullying. Awareness is being created more today because of social media and countrywide school shootings that have been taking place for almost two decades now. Since the Columbine massacre, and several shootings since, the subject of bullying and what schools and parents are doing about it has garnered much attention from the media. The one place that the media and most news organizations don’t do, and what this film only touches on; is how one’s home life affects their social life in school, at work, and how you carry yourself in public. This film, along with the media and news, also barely skim over how some parents condition their kids to act a certain way and hold unachievable expectations over their heads; essentially bullying them into being what the parent wants them to be. 

Somewhat a hybrid between Tina Fey’s ‘Mean Girls’ and ‘The Blair Witch Project’ we watch from the main character’s, Jessica Burns (Lexi Ainsworth), POV as she stumbles into the bathroom crying and swalllows a whole handful of prescription pills. The film then walks us back in time to what led Jessica to do this, intercut with how the highschool students react to Jessica’s attempted suicide in present day. As Jessica is in a coma, a documentary crew comes in to find out what really happened and we learn that she had been getting harassed on a regular basis by fellow student and ex-best friend, Avery Keller (Hunter King). That harassment has escalated to a point where Jessica’s friend, Brian Slater (Jimmy Bennett) is now involved in helping Jessica cope with this bullying. Using his videographer skills, Brian equips Jessica with a necklace spy cam that allows Jessica to videotape how Avery treats her secretly. Avery Keller is also given a camera by the documentary crew to document her day to day life, to shine a light on what it is like to be the most popular kid in school and give a short of a ‘feet on the ground’ approach to discovering why Jessica might want to take her own life. These events play out fairly naturally on film and through heavy use of the POV angle you feel as if you are also walking the halls of the high school yourself. This allows the film to hit harder because you feel as if you are being bullied. But the constant cutting back and forth between flashbacks and modern day can leave you a bit disjointed as to what time period you are actually watching. 

Through documentary footage of Avery’s home life we learn that her mother is very overbearing, bullying her, her husband, and her older brother. It is interesting to note that her family deals with this in various ways: Avery’s dad escapes from his condescending wife by spending time watching sports, her brother takes the escapist approach and pours his life into online video games, and Avery herself tries to act above it all. This would be the biggest flaw: not showing enough of what drives someone to bully someone else. We get to see some of Avery’s home life, but not enough to convince you, as an audience member, that you should feel sorry for her. As the film winds down you want Avery to get burned and hurt, and it robs the ending of the film  of its message and potential gravitas. An episode of Louie C.K.’s television show called: ‘Bully’ did in ten minutes what this film took almost two hours to accomplish. That bullying hurts everyone and there are no winners, just victims; and that it begins at home. I praise the film for having the bravery to show both sides. The acting of both Lexi Answorth and Hunter King is so realistic and spot on, you feel as if you are watching real people. It really does make you feel that, as a viewer, you are watching two people who are in pain. It is brave to paint the bully as someone who is actually hurting more then the victim; but the film would have made a better impact if there was more time spent on why bullying occurs and what can be done in the home to prevent it. Otherwise, A Girl Like Her is an excellent film that everyone should see.