★★
Jodi, the tallest girl in her high school, has always felt uncomfortable in her own skin. But after years of slouching, being made fun of, and avoiding attention at all costs, Jodi finally decides to find the confidence to stand tall.
Classification: PG
A teen-centred romantic comedy that thinks it's delivering a message of inner beauty is drowned out by cliché and boring storytelling. Tall Girl almost feels tone-deaf in how it treats its main conflict of Jodi being tall considering the real issues that face modern American teenagers even though being consistent with the self-absorbed nature of teenagers. The film is built from the vain, vapid popularity contest that plagues everyone but does nothing original or noteworthy to make it a worthwhile addition to the genre. Nzingha Stewart can deliver some sweet moments through her direction in the brief moment's Tall Girl allows itself to explore real emotion rather than adolescent melodrama. The overall product just feels like a trivial lame homage to John Hughes films like Pretty in Pink or even better recent romcoms such as The Duff, Tall Girl has nothing to say with its banal concept.
The romantic storyline to get invested in isn't one to write home about, Tall Girl won't leave audiences swooning with escapist romantic fantasies they wished they had lived through in their golden high school days. Ava Michelle as the titular tall girl Jodi is fine but beyond general sympathy, the audience doesn't have much to get invested in her performance. She genuinely believes her height is a critical issue but it is possible that could be a result of inadvertent parental abuse due to a recurring gag of her father being uncomfortable about her size. When a Swedish exchange student Stig comes to her school, Jodi sees it as an opportunity to finally have a boyfriend because since Stig is also tall, it won't be an issue. That's where Tall Girl fails in its hopes of being a story about dismantling social stigmas with teenagers and showing how stupid these arbitrary obsessions are. There is very little romantic chemistry between Jodi and Stig, or with any of Jodi's suitors, it is hard for the audience to buy into their relationship as the film doesn't exactly make clear what Stig's motivations are in the film. Is he a nice guy? or a bully? it doesn't really matter because Tall Girl just wants to get to necessary points required in a teen rom-com that memorable scenes, dialogue or genuine emotion is not required. Stig's "competition" for Jodi's heart is her best friend Jack Dunkleman portrayed by Griffin Gluck of American Vandal fame, which is like rubbing salt into the wound for the audience as the level of satire involving student societies from that show is desperately needed in the script for Tall Girl.
Dunkleman is the "Duckie" of the film complete with the coat and buttons and googly eyes for the lead actress. It doesn't feel like "homage" but like laziness in writing, the cobble together a soulless teen flick by filling with references and tricks from films now old enough that their target audiences won't even recognize now. The one good character in Tall Girl is Jodi's older sister Harper portrayed by Sabrina Carpenter, a pageant queen who sees Jodi's crush on Stig an opportunity for a confidence makeover. Carpenter brings a focused crazy to the film drawing the audience in with her controlling freakouts and emotional vulnerability. Nzingha Stewart and writer Sam Wolfson seem to want to craft a story that destroys the stereotypes that high school assigns people by having Jodi be the beautiful confident popular girl at the end or having Dunkleman be the romantic hero but this type of story has been done better and with far better characters. Where more recent romantic comedies have utilised the modern world into telling their stories, Tall Girl very much feels like a relic and not in a nostalgic way.
It has a few sweet moments between the characters, primarily between Jodi and her family as she comes to terms with her insecurities but with the focus of the film being on the ridiculous melodrama at the high school, these moments just feel tacked on. Tall Girl doesn't have a sensible grounding in reality; it has the aesthetic of television high school and wants all of its conflict to be derived from inconsequential vanity. Tall Girl wouldn't be better if it suddenly addressed school shootings, technology or sexuality in teenagers but its the lack of maturity in how it delivers any messaging that makes the whole film hard to take seriously. The audience cannot buy into Jodi's issue because of how ridiculous it is, she is tall but she has a family who loves her, good friends, seems to be smart and will go off to have a bright future. Yes, she's a teenager focusing on the wrong thing but the film always goes for the most shallow and conventional story beats that any commentary that Tall Girl believes its making just dissipates away.
Director: #NzinghaStewart
Cast: #AvaMichelle, #GriffinGluck, #LukeEisner, #SabrinaCarpenter, #ParisBerelc, #ClaraWilsey, #AnjelikaWashington, #RicoParis, #AngelaKinsey, #SteveZahn
Release Date: September 13th 2019
Available exclusively on Netflix
Trailer:
Written review copyright ©CoreyBullochReviews
Images and Synopsis from the Internet Movie Database
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