Bad Girl

The movie seems all-over-the-place and forced in every way. Bad characterization, bad script, bad acting (except Samara Weaving).

Since I liked a lot of Samara Weaving's other stuff, I rented "Bad Girl".

The movie was kinda so-so, but the thing that killed it for me was Sara West's character, Amy, was genuinely unlikable. I really didn't feel any empathy or sympathy for her.

Part of the problem was there was no context to why anyone was the way they were. Worse, there was little explanation of the family unit, and you're trying to piece it together on top of figuring out the motives.

Why did they move? Because of a crazy house party? WHAT?!?! Why is mom so dead set on making this work? Why is dad so suspicious of Chloe's motives? Other than "rebel teen", what is the reason the main character is such a horrible person?

Then there was the attraction component that was all over the place. They could have made a real connection between the two, which would have made for a great realization/rejection moment, but again... nothing with meat to it.

Samara plays a good nutcase (well, she's adorable, too) so that kept me watching, but lack of depth to the story and the unlikable Amy killed it for me.

Was going to give it a 4 out of 10 but after typing this, I dropped it to 3.

If you're looking for Samara Weaving stuff, there's much better movies out there. If you're looking for an LGBTQ story, "Kiss me, Guido" is infinitely better than this. If you were looking for something barely mediocre that could have been decent, this is your movie.

Bad Girl starts out as one thing and becomes something else. This is reminiscent, almost a homage, to the thriller flicks of the late eighties, early nineties, comparable to such films as The Hand the Rocks the Cradle, The Stepfather and most notably Fatal Attraction. While nowhere in that league, this film is quite serviceable by its conclusion. The standout elements are not the story, writing or direction, but the performances of the two leads, the girls. The father, however, is just awful. He's not directed very well either, which doesn't help. The other element that is noticeable throughout is the soundtrack. It wasn't until the credits that I saw the name of Warren Ellis. A brilliant musician and composer. The music is probably the highlight of the film. Subtle most of the time. The cinematography is quite solid also. Sadly the writing and directing let it down. The first half hour is slow, predictable, cheesy, unrealistic and annoying. It's a shame because you've already lost any sympathy for any of the characters by the time the story shifts into gear. They needed to have more depth, more rounded characterization for the audience to be drawn into their story. As it stands, it becomes something of a stock standard thriller, though quite well done. A missed opportunity and more of a showcase for the talents of its young leads. Mr Ellis has already proven himself many times over. Worth your time, sure, but go in with low expectations, persevere and you may just enjoy it for what it is.

It's an intense story that engages me throughout. The acting is good, and the film is thrilling.

I saw this film at the 'Roze Filmdagen'; the Amsterdam LGBTQ film festival. To be honest, it wasn't my first choice. As a gay man I'd rather seen a gay men's story...

But I was positively surprised by the quality of this film. All the production-work, all of the art-direction and all the camera-work are just great. And I really enjoyed the acting of especially Samara Weaving and Sara West, the two main actors, who put down a very involving performance. I guess the story isn't spectacularly inventive, but within it's genre it's a nice piece of work that kept me in suspense during the whole movie.