Netflix And Chill: Sierra Burgess Is A Loser (2018)

I wouldn't have prioritised a viewing of Sierra Burgess Is A Loser if I hadn't read yet another selection of articles written by people getting upset about content that I wasn't sure was intended to offend, in context. But we all know that anyone being offended doesn't give a damn about context. Just ask, well, anyone who has recently been offended.

As suspected, there isn't much here to cause offence, certainly when you compare it to the works that have influenced it (such as Cyrano de Bergerac, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, and the many John Hughes movies of the 1980s). There are mean-spirited things said about various people, but all of those insults say more about the attitudes and mindsets of the characters delivering them than they say about the makers of the movie. And the characters, including the one that viewers are supposed to root for, do some bad, deceitful, things. I refer you back to the influences just mentioned. So let's move forward with a more standard look at the film without making any attempts to defend aspects that don't need defending.

Shannon Purser plays Sierra, a high school student who doesn't fit in with the crowd of more popular girls, and therefore is labelled as a loser. When Veronica (Kristine Froseth) decides to have fun by handing out Sierra's phone number, claiming it to be her own, it's not long until romance is budding, by text, between Sierra and a young man named Jamey (Noah Centineo). To keep up the pretence, Sierra will need help from Veronica. And it turns out that the latter may need some help of her own, in the form of tutoring, so the two work together, discovering that they have more in common than either would think.

I don't know how things work for Netflix picking up, or creating, their original content but it seems to be working out well for them to often take calculated risks. Perhaps the stars, content, and viewing habits are enough for the algorithms to give them the nod to throw money at a variety of projects (and let's not forget that their data-analysing system gave us House Of Cards). This is, I assume, why we have Sierra Burgess Is A Loser as the directorial feature of Ian Samuels, after a string of shorts on his filmography, and the screenwriting debut of Lindsey Beer. Both do well enough, with Beer using the teen comedy framing to explore loyalty, friendship, peer pressure, honesty, and the benefits and downsides of connecting with others on the worldwide web. Samuels may not stamp his personality on the material, but he shows a knack for emulating the vibe of past teen movies (ones that we still view fondly, despite the many problems that come packaged with them).

Purser has been garnering quite the fanbase since her turn in Stranger Things, and she puts in another good performance here. Sierra is a good young woman, but she makes bad decisions when she starts to become more selfish, neglecting her close friend (Dan, played by R. J. Cyler) and piling one lie on top of another to keep up a dishonest relationship. Froseth is the typical high school clique queen, initially, and does well with that part. She also gets to show another side of her as she and Sierra grow closer, an aspect of the film that is necessary but feels slightly rushed. Centineo is a likable male lead, helped by the fact that his character is kind and earnest as well as the object of Sierra's affection, and Cyler is a lot of fun in his role. The other supporting players are all well and good, but it will please many veiwers to see that Alan Ruck and Lea Thompson play the parents of the main character.

What this film gets right is the general high school movie feel and the selection of standard teen problems. And the cast. What it gets wrong is the lack of believability in a lot of the character developments, which affects everything, although still doesn't do enough damage if you're happy to overlook the flaws while enjoying the predictable beats that lead up to a predictable, if undeserved, finale.

6/10

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Wish Upon (2017)

Here are some things that can almost guarantee I watch a film: zombies, sharks, time travel, Diora Baird, and wishes that are granted in deviously twisted ways. So I knew that I would see Wish Upon eventually, despite hearing plenty of negative opinions on it, and it was only the concept that sold me. I was unaware of writer Barbara Marshall. I wasn't exactly blown away by the filmography of director John R. Leonetti (who bagged the Annabelle gig, and scored a hit there). And although I recognise lead actress Joey King, I don't know her well enough to seek out or avoid anything that she stars in.

King plays Clare Shannon, a young girl who isn't doing too well in life. Her schooldays are quite miserable, her father (Ryan Phillippe) spends most of his days scavenging from bins for items to renovate or sell on (I guess), and she gazes lovingly at a hunky fella (Paul, played by Mitchell Slaggert) who hasn't looked her way in years. She does at least have two loyal best friends (played by Sydney Park and Shannon Purser) but not much else. But everything changes when she finds a magical box that grants wishes. Those wishes come at a cost, of course, but Clare has already been seduced by a better life by the time she realises the big picture.

Starting off with an enjoyably twisted wish (Clare just wants someone to rot away), things start subtly enough to allow the film to build and build with each wish. The fact that the main characters go throughout approximately half of the movie just thinking everything is the result of an overdue deluge of good luck is ridiculous, and writer Marshall could have tried harder there, but it's easy to forgive the failings of the film as we start to watch one tease after another, wondering if people will live or die in sequences that wouldn't feel out of place in a Final Destination movie. Admittedly, tension is diluted while viewers can laugh at people sliding their hands into garbage disposal units, moving under cars that are jacked up while a tyre is being changed, or just helping someone go to work on a tree branch with the most unsafe chainsawing set-up possible, but it's all still good fun.

King is okay in the lead role, with Park and Purser both likable enough as her friends, and Slaggert does okay in a role that really sees him unwittingly under the spell of one of the wishes. Ki Hong Lee is also enjoyable enough, playing a student who ends up helping Clare try to solve the mysterious origin of the box. It's odd to see Phillippe in the dad role, despite the fact that he may have been in that age bracket for a few years now, but he does well enough, and Sherilyn Fenn gets some screentime too, which will always make me happy.

Leonetti keeps things pretty teen-friendly, neither elevating nor dragging down the average script, and the concept should please anyone who, like me, already thinks they might derive some pleasure from it. Once past the first third, which sets up the characters and shows the box starting off small before growing and growing, in terms of the price paid for wishes, this provides solid entertainment.

Oh, and if anyone ever makes a movie in which a time travelling zombie shark tries to entrap the soul of Diora Baird by offering her a number of wishes that won't pan out as she wants them to . . . . . . show me where to buy my tickets.

6/10

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