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The very overrated 2004 flick "Mean Girls" was praised by critics for its "biting" and "accurate" portrayal of clique-y high school girls. Please, "Mean Girls" is so tame, so glossy it should have been called "'Valley Girl' with PMS". Just a year after "Mean Girls"'s release, Lifetime released "Odd Girl Out", a terrifying tragic tale of adolescent cruelty. Based on Rachel Simmons's nonfiction book of the same name, "Odd Girl Out" is a stylized but painfully realistic look at how teenage girls will attack each other not with four-letter words or fists, but with rumors, dirty looks, and any form of underhanded bullying. "Odd Girl Out" reveals the 21st century's newest form of torment: cyber-bullying.

Our protagonist Vanessa (Alexa Vega, "Spy Kids") is an A-student comfortably situated in her popular clique of friends. When fair weather friend Niki (played by appropriately unattractive Elizabeth Rice) becomes jealous of Vanessa's social standing, she decides to take her down a peg by turning Vanessa's shallow best friend Stacy (Leah Pipes) against her and spreading hateful rumors and gossip. Gossip turns into thinly veiled insults ("That tray looks really heavy," one girl sneers at Vanessa during lunch), which in turn become relentless abuse (a web site dedicated to insulting Vanessa is put up). Vanessa tries her best to ignore this undeserved mistreatment, but the emotional pain becomes too much for her to bear. Vanessa's self-esteem and life begin to crumble, and her mother (Lisa Vidal) desperately struggles to help her anguished daughter.

As someone who was picked on (albeit not as badly) in middle school, I must say this movie is right on the mark. This is really how middle school girls behave: they'll simply choose their victim and attack at random. No rhyme, no reason, they are driven by their own self-absorption and insecurities. I'll admit it, "Odd Girl Out" made me cry for myself, for poor Vanessa, and anyone else who was victimized at that age. Vega is astonishingly good as Vanessa, who is forced to go through pure hell scene after scene. You really see the desperation and loneliness reflected in her sad brown eyes. Vidal is also in fine form as Vanessa's loving but somewhat clueless mom. Rice, Pipes, and Alecia Moore are realistic as the pack of former friends who torture Vanessa.

Some people complain that "Odd Girl Out" plays too much like a horror movie. Anyone who agrees with that sentiment obviously never attended public middle school.

If you like would like to see a version of "Mean Girls" without the Comedy and with lots of drama this is your movie. I don't think I have seen a better movie that showed the real side of high school pressure. The movie actually shows what can really happen and how best friends aren't always forever, especially in a "popular crowd" because really its out to get to you. The movies by far one of my favorite movies and made me think if that would ever happened to me , what would I do? I liked how the movie made Vanessa get sucked back into the friendship with Stacey but in the end have the pressure let lose and bring it all on Stacey and show how ugly she was inside and how fake she was. This is a great movie to show to people about what peer pressuring could do to you and how effects your lifestyle. But I warn you when you watch the movie ... have a box of Kleenex because I surely needed it .

Odd Girl Out is probably one to of the most realistic movies made-for-teens\pre-teens out there. I have seen She's Too Young, Mean Girls, etc, but this is the best. It is about a girl Vanessa who is one of the top popular girls in her school. Her life is great- she's got straight A's,she's on the school soccer team, and her best friend Stacy by her side. Everything is great- except for her friend Nikki. Slowly, but surely Nikki begins to build a web of lies, taunts, and rumors about Nikki. She tells Stacy that Vanessa is trying to steal her "boyfriend", and Vanessa goes from the popular table to the loser table. Nikki, Stacy, Emily, the Nikki replaced clone, and other girls begin to tear apart Vanessa's life-taunting her, calling her fat, and playing mind games on her. Soon Vanessa becomes depressed and goes desperate to claim her throne in the popular crowd once again.

This movie was so good! Except for the dim lighting and the that rap they had in there it was great. Leah Pipes and Alicia Morton played such good roles I"ll never be able to watch Disney movies the same way again. Alexa Vega was great and played a believable thirteen year old, unlike Leah Pipes who was a little too old for the movie.

Overall, it's a great movie! I think anyone between the ages 12-15 should watch it!

Superior made-for-TV effort. The director, an experienced horror flick maker, has a field day playing with the evil that is produced from warehousing many unwanted kids in government run schools. There is haunting music, harsh lighting and sinister dark shadows in most every school scene. The actors all play their parts well. The drama and emotions are driven far beyond the limits of most TV movies. I watched this film with a young adult who was recently teased and shunned by her group of friends. Wow, did ODD GIRL OUT ever hit a raw nerve with her, and judging from comments posted by other viewers, it has the power to expose deep hurts in many other viewers as well.

Along with the art and drama, there are many super-nice female forms to appreciate. Excellent job LIFETIME Channel!

I have always been intrigued by the fact that a school in general consists of two separate realities:the more or less controlled environment of the classroom and the unknown reality of what goes on between students once they are not supervised by their teachers. As a former educator myself, I can assure you that life at school for certain young people can be a living hell.Pestering occurs at every level: kindergarten kids who physically threaten their classmates in order to obtain candy, high-school students who desperately seek excuses as to avoid the humiliation and isolation they experience during recreation not to mention the subtle intrigues that occur at a university level."Humans" in general apparently have a genetically determined urge to reinforce their own feelings of self esteem by preying on easy victims. It is therefore of the utmost importance that parents be aware of the cruel reality that often exists in schools and pay close attention to any alarming change in attitude or conduct on the part of their children. "Odd Girl Out", sadly enough, is a brilliant account of events that are closer to reality than one initially would be willing to believe.Very convincing acting by Alexa Vega as the tormented youngster and Lisa Vidal as the anguished mother