A Girl Like Her

If you are a parent of a child in today's society over the age of 40 this segment is like a "today" version of the after school specials that we watched regarding subjects they were afraid to discuss when we were in school but better.

If you're a young parent you may feel relieved that "someone" is bold enough to tell the truth, and you already know how real this is and how it exists in school whether you were bullied or a bully. If you're a school administrator or teacher it may remind you that you are a part of the problem and/or solution. If you're presently being bullied; hopefully, this will give you the strength to talk to someone. If you're a bully cognizant of your actions hopefully this will show you the view of what your actions look like from the other side. In any event of what brings you to decide to watch this, I do believe this short film will inspire you to be active, aware, relative, honest, accountable, and supportive in whichever direction you walk. After you watch it, you'll see why I didn't give it a ten; but, I don't want this rating to be a spoiler so just watch for yourself and see how you relate to "THE" girl like her.

Writer-Director Amy S. Weber just got so much better with her massively insightful and deeply educational film about Bullying entitled "A Girl Like Her". It is one of the best movies about Bullying I have seen. The movie stars Lexi Ainsworth as Jessica Burns, a high school sophomore who has been a victim of bullying & cyberbullying by the mean spirited Avery Keller, played by Hunter King. Jessica's best friend is Brian Slater, played by Jimmy Bennett. Each attend South Brookdale High School, who has been named one of the top high schools in the country. A documentary team does a feature on the accolades of South Brookdale, but simultaneously as that is happening, Jessica tries to commit suicide due to Avery's rambunctious & endless bullying preyed on to Jessica. In finding out that Avery bullied Jessica, the film team decides to twist the feature and focus it on Avery and her dealings on being a popular student. Many lessons on Bullying are presented very effectively throughout the rest of the film. I believe that every high school should show "A Girl Like Her" to their students, it is that important of a subject matter and Weber does an admirable job in highlighting the effects of bullying, the importance of being a proactive bystander, and what makes a bully commit harassing acts. And the film's integration of surveillance makes it an even more deeper look into the Bullying subject matter. I liked the work of Ainsworth as Burns, but the showstopper performance here is from Hunter King as Keller. Hunter might have just hunted down some more motion picture roles in springboarding from her phenomenal work here. Hey, I'm not gonna bully you into watching "A Girl Like Her", but I do think it's an upstanding film! ***** Excellent

I was a little disheartened reading some of the movie reviews for this feature and the overall metascore. This was a powerful indie flick that was financed through crowdsourcing on a shoestring budget. It does not have big names and doesn't need them. The kids play their parts professionally. The raw emotion is there and for anyone who has been on the receiving end of the emotional beat down that happens here, this movie should hit a nerve. It did with me. The only downsides to it are the shaky-cam effect that comes with a faux documentary. It's a bit heavy-handed, so to speak, but tolerable. Avery's Mom is a little over the top in the crazy Mom department, but I'm sure this type exists. At least it does on reality TV. Avery's Dad is a doormat and gets stepped on most of the scenes, but I don't think he truly got hurt when the mother berated him for not washing his hands after using the bathroom. I think there could have been something more compelling in that argument to side us against the Mother in addition to her other character flaws. This movie will affect you, director Amy Weber grabs you from the very beginning and draws you into the disturbing side of high school cliques. It had me choked up many times, angry other times, sympathetic most of the time and I left knowing I was right when I thought this movie had potential to make a difference. Go see it, bring your pre-teen and/or teen.

It was an interesting take on the subject of Bullying.

After Jessica Burns' attempted suicide, A film crew doing a documentary on her school, begins to focus on what made her do it and the the fingers point to Avery Keller, a popular sophomore who for some reason made Jessica her victim, the documentary then takes a look at the life of Avery Keller to see what makes her tick.

The movie pushed all the right buttons for me, I felt it was evenly laid out as we got to see what Jessica is going through which is the more favorable issue, but we also got to see where Avery was coming from. The movie does not attempt to sugar coat her villainy, but we all needed to know what was fueling the fire in order to understand it.

Not bad

I heard about this movie on Facebook and needed to see it right away. Something about it and the description just drew me in, and my curiosity just made me jump on it.

A movie from different angles of people who have their own cameras is definitely an interesting way of visually seeing the movie. There are other movies that do this extremely effectively too, like End of Watch the cop movie.

The story was fantastic and I felt it made a lot of great points. It will certainly speak to the bullied about what it feels like to be alone and not feel like they can talk to anyone about it and that no one could understand it.

It is a dark movie. It was not afraid to go to some surprisingly dark places. Maybe even too dark for me at times. There were parts troubling enough that I had to look away.

I would recommend this movie, but be warned that it is troubling and may not go the directions that you want it to.