Casey Paulson (Madison McLaughlin) reluctantly returns to school after a house fire killed her father and left her with an awkward wig to cover her burnt up hair. Her mother Laura (Heather McComb) has a new boyfriend. Her former friends take revenge for previous cruelties. Popular head cheerleader Reagan (Bayley Corman) comes to her rescue despite warnings. With Reagan's protection, Casey starts taking revenge upon her enemies. With Reagan's help, she gets into the running for the Most Inspiring Student.
The start is a little confused about the timing in the movie. It's seventeen minutes before Casey and Reagan sit down for an exposition dump. Casey's relationship with the two girls is also a bit confused which is only explained around the midway point. Non of it is set up well. Also, I'd prefer a more traditional setup with Reagan as the lead character. She could learn things about Casey over time. When done in the reversed way, we're discovering things about Casey and feeling like the movie is simply holding back. That can be frustrating especially with Reagan being clueless. Also McLaughlin doesn't have quite the inner darkness of Casey. I know they're going for evil rather than dark. It's also the wig. It needs to be brunette wig rather than an ugly blonde one. The wig is so ugly that it pulls focus away from the actors and the story. It's a lot of little annoyances that subtracts from the movie. Of all the concepts, the best is the Single White Female. There is potential there but that's only brought up when the movie is transitioning into the third act.
