Cyberbully

Yes, cyberbullying is rampant, and yes its continuing to get worse. I don't think anyone disputes that. And yes, one way to draw attention to something like this is by making a movie about it.

Cyberbully plays like an After School Special from the early 90's. The characters are painfully flat and unconvincing, the plot is bland and predictable, and even the drama points made for more effective black comedy than actual drama.

Overall, Cyberbully has an over-dramatic, hysterical tone which almost seems like it could have been made by teenage girls. Maybe that was the intent?

While I appreciate the attempt at making a movie dealing with an increasingly hurtful phenomenon, this movie actually ends up trivializing the very issues it was trying to draw attention to.

A for effort, D- for execution.

While I would agree with some other people's comments that the girl being bullied would likely be popular in real life, the movie as a whole makes a very important point, cyberbullying is a legitimate problem. Technology has made it easier to bully and no matter how hard we try to protect our kids there is no escape from it as the movie points out. It also makes the strong point that many people don't realize there is no such thing as absolute free speech (and there shouldn't be). Words that involve defamation and libel invade one's rights to privacy and this movie points this out effectively. If nothing else it challenges parents to do more and realize kids (and even some adults) are struggling with many emotional issues due to this cowardly form of bullying. It also though not naming any sites should remind us that many kids are attracted to sites like Facebook and those types of sites should do more to stop cyberbullying. It should also remind us there are other sites such as Topix that do not absolutely nothing to curb the problem of cyberbullying and that is a real problem.

Honestly - I didn't go into this with very high expectations. I went into Cyberbully thinking to myself "Oh look - an ABC family movie about the internet. No doubt its going to be badly acted, badly written, hilariously misinformed with planned adverts every four or five minutes to hammer home the point of internet security and bullying, and, no doubt, it being an ABC family drama, after all, it will have no relevance to real life, it will shoehorn in seemingly random issues such as sexuality, and, perhaps most importantly for the demographic, it will, at no point, have any black people. At all. Ever." But what I saw truly changed me. I never realised how hard upper-middle-class white girls had it before this movie, and that plight, that emotional typhoon of internet-related insecurities just hit me where it hurts. It also reminded me of the importance of safety caps on pill bottles, because its not just children who are fooled by them - but adults and teenagers too. And it introduced me to what is, perhaps, the greatest televised event ever conceived, although conceived is perhaps the wrong word....realised. The greatest television event ever realised - the Gay Boy Show. Anyway - in conclusion, this movie has got to be one of the most incredibly watchable movies released this year, and it will warm you from your balls to your solar plexus with its message and its subtle delivery of said message. Watch this film.

I get it, people want to take on a popular topic so they can make tons of money. The problem is, this film is so poorly executed that I couldn't take this film seriously in the slightest.

So this film's about some teenager who has no problem mocking people, but if somebody mocks her, she starts crying. Get used to it, because you will be putting up with her for the duration of this abomination. There is even a scene where she talks to someone who has been mocked for being gay. She blows hims off, due to him actually being gay. Are we seriously supposed to have sympathy for this character?

I could mock this film for all of the laughably bad scenes, but I would be beating a dead horse by doing so. I'm certainly not the only one who sees how terrible this film is. The idea that anybody has taken this film seriously seems like a sick joke.

Cyberbully is not worth your time, unless you want a few cheap laughs.

It seems that ABC Family has debuted a new film about cyberbullying in social networks. Unfortunately, though, it seems it was conceived by someone who knows absolutely nothing about cyberbullying in social networks. Even though some valuable points are made, "Cyberbully" is strictly for entertainment. The movie might actually be brilliant as a black comedy - note the moment Taylor Hillridge tells her best friend that she "can't get the cap off," which is almost undoubtedly bound to be remembered as a staple in television comedy. In fact, at points, the film is so ridiculous that it nearly seemed to have been made as a black comedy.

"Cyberbully" also has amateurish cinematography (half of its shots appearing to have been taken from some serialized drama) and a plain script with wooden dialogue, even though the acting performance of Emily Osment is worthy of praise. The portrayal of cyber-bullying is highly unrealistic; the main character signs up for a website that apparently doesn't allow you to even delete posted comments. When she should just delete her account, "it's too late" is used as an excuse. When she should just block the profile of anybody she doesn't like, the website seems not to have a blocking option. This is completely inaccurate, as most social networking websites will let you delete comments, block profiles of people, and report spam comments.

"Cyberbully" has convincing acting and entertainment, as well as good messages, but is unrealistic and sometimes even unintentionally humorous at times; both far overshadow any redeeming qualities you will be able to find.