By Olivia Thompson, Photo Editor
When Sierra Burgess Is a Loser came out on Netflix, I was very excited. For months I had seen promotional videos and photos from the main cast member, Shannon Purser, who has also been featured on the TV show hits Riverdale and Stranger Things. I had been a fan of her for a while—her calm, quirky, and sometimes sassy characters light up the screen even when she playing supportive roles. In addition to Purser, new sensation Noah Centineo, who gained popularity for the Netflix adaptation of To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before as well as his role on The Fosters, was cast as Purser’s love interest. Chrissy Metz played a supporting role in Sierra Burgess Is a Loser as well, and she has been growing in popularity since her role in This Is Us.
But the plot wasn’t anything special. It was a cute idea: a girl who is a little awkward and not very popular falls in love with a popular jock, using a popular person’s body to disguise herself. Each night Sierra calls the boy on the phone and eventually the two fall in love through the phone. Sierra even goes so far as to FaceTime the boy by having the popular girl lip dub to her voice.
But as a whole the movie, for me, missed a fleshing out a deeper meaning in the plot. The ending was predictable. The girl got the boy because looks don’t matter. This ending seems to be the way that other teen movies end as well and in some way it seems appropriate. But the movie missed the unique mark for me; it turned out to be just another cliche teen movie.
It failed due to its unintentional villainization of the main character, Sierra Burgess. The way she was written made her out to be a fairly confident character and simply disappointed in the lack of maturity in her fellow classmates. We see Sierra grow into a mean, hazardous character who ends up creating more drama than she needed to. She became a unlikable, cocky character. This was in no way Purser’s fault who I believed portrayed her character very well. With every little quirk or expression, Purser captivates audiences, undoubtedly. This character was scripted to do certain things that makes the audience distrust her and ultimately feel no remorse for her after things backfire.
Olivia Thompson can be reached at [email protected]
