Sierra Burgess is a Loser is a teen-comedy drama movie, a Netflix original, which, when I first saw the trailer, seemed to me like it would be a lovely movie about transformation and self-esteem, where some characters would learn to look beyond appearances… It would be kind of a cliché, but that wouldn’t necessarily be a problem.
Not What It Looks Like
When you start watching the film, Sierra (Shannon Purser - Barbara from Stranger Things) seems very confident, even when she is mistreated by her colleagues, but it’s obvious she is putting on a mask. And, in less than 10 minutes, the whole idea of a lovely story turns out to be a huge mistake.
Let me explain. This movie is NOT romantic; it’s all about lies and lack of respect. She betrays this one boy’s trust, she lied to, kissed him without his permission (while he actually thought he was kissing someone else)… I’m sorry, but if it were the boy doing it, every woman who calls themselves a feminist would be standing up and calling it a movie condoning this type of sexual assault! It was wrong in so many ways…
The Criticisms
The movie was terribly criticized, especially by the online community, about many of the producers’ choices. Even before she had any idea of who the boy ‘texting’ her might be, she didn’t say “Hey! Wrong number”. Why? And then, later on, she pretends to be deaf to continue tricking him… Just unacceptable, really…
I don’t think it was supposed to be taken that seriously. I believe the script-writers were trying to pass along the idea of a silly character doing some dumb things, not because she’s evil, just insecure. However, you must adapt to the world around you, especially if you want your product to sell. So, generally speaking, it was a bad choice, due to the way the world is reacting to that kind of stuff right now. It was an expected problem, and the movie production should’ve been aware of it.
Friendship
On another script-related note, Sierra and Veronica’s (Kristine Froseth) friendship was entirely built on the wrong basis.
The things they did to each other? Come on, some of that would be inexcusable! Even Sierra’s best friend was used by her whenever it was convenient… It’s borderline uncomfortable to watch at times.
Bad, Not Horrible
I don’t think the movie is as terrible as many people seem to think, since I had a ‘decent’ enough time watching it, but… that’s about it. It doesn’t teach you anything and is definitely not about body positivity, as they tried to spin it. It’s just another teen movie about boys and girls, sometimes being extremely mean, just to get ahead…
Poor Choices In Today's World
And the romantic idea they explored, of how a boy can be tricked and in the end fall in love with the deceitful girl, because after all, she was his soulmate all along, is too 90’s for today’s world.
Worse than that, it goes against all the political correctness the world has come to expect nowadays, and which the virtual and online world seems to look out for more than ever, which is a very large portion of Netflix’s audience… so, all in all, this film just wasn’t a very smart choice at all…
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