Jessica Darling's It List

I find the vast majority of the movies produced for the preteen crowd to be unbearably bad - most I can never make it to the end of - but this one is watchable enough that I've seen it more than once. It's not a masterpiece, but in its genre, it's definitely one of the better ones.

The cast is cute and age-appropriate for their roles, and the goofier sidekicks are fun. The actors fit their roles, and even though some of the characters are over-the-top in a way you'll only find in kids' movies, even the cheerleader and popular-girl/guy types have more to them.

Based on a book series, the movie has heaps of American teen themes, but things are messier and more complicated than in most of these shows. There are the stereotypes, sure, but friendships grow and change - and sometimes end. I liked the realistic aspect that some things just aren't meant to last as you grow up. I remember well that was the age when everything changed for everyone I knew.

The ending was great. Things don't have to work out the way you want them to. Sometimes better things happen.

If you can get past the terrible acting and even worse message, you might like it?

C-.

For a film so heavily interested in female success, apparently, the story sure doesn't care about a diverse and more realistic representation of young and old women. The amount of hate girls give eachother and lack of support from the mother and older sister is tragic and rather painful to witness. We almost feel sorry for Jessica. She is so embedded in her circumstances she cannot find a way out of this problematic narrative. And altough she is surrounded by much more horrid personalities, Jessica remains quite bland and lacks to fulfill a satisfying character arc.

The junior high experience is heavily prominent, with characters barely existing outside of school, including the adults. But it only raises questions about the cultural message of this film. What is this hierarchical social order. Shouldn't we aim to dismantle the problematic structural issues embedded in the Western society instead of promoting them so obscenely?

What are the adults in this story? They have the emotional and mental capacity of a 15 year old, and that's being generous.

The end leaves you with a rather unpleasant aftertaste. You might as well join Jessica and faint multiple times to shake off this bitterness that comes from watching this miserable film. Please dont show it to your kids it may encourage constant fainting and need to hit ones head and possibly collapse.

This movie you should show to you kid's. My thoughts behind this statement are as follows. During the film there are multiple points were I thought, "This is not what real life is like at all. Not one living soul has ever had these experiences". Now you may be asking yourself, "why are you recommending this to my child" there is one answer, to confuse the ever loving heck out of em. No one knows how school is going to be like. I didn't so they shouldn't either.

It had its charms but overall it was bad. I would not recommend watching unless your under 12.