Olivia

I watched this movie a year ago, and while the acting is good and convincing, the story and characters really irk me and are sufficiently underdeveloped and one-sided. The movie is basically about a girl, Jodi, who is 6'1'' and her struggles with her self esteem and coming to terms with her height. Sprinkle in a bit of romance and friend drama, and it's basically the entire plot of Tall Girl. Let's start off with the characters. I really, really don't like Jodi. She's spoiled and entitled, overly sensitive, positively blind to all the help and support she's getting from her friends and family – a lot of people are obsessing over the "size 13 Nikes" quote, and how that makes her look super bratty. I personally think Jodi just makes a big deal out of nothing a lot and is exceptionally ungrateful for everything she has. Also, this was brought up a lot – why doesn't she play sports? Her height would give her such a big advantage. It's clear the movie wants you to root for Jodi, but she's just extremely unlikeable and ungrateful. Kimmy, the mean girl, is the most cliche, blatantly one-sided character EVER. They literally gave her ZERO character development and made her overly malicious. I know that bullies exist, but they aren't as one-sided as Kimmy. If they had given her a bit more character development, she'd be a bit more convincing. It's clear all the writers really wanted with Kimmy was to use her as someone to go against Jodi. Dunkleman is nice, and believable. I think we've all had that quirky, strange, yet nice classmate before. However, Dunkleman acts like a downright PERVERT. I mean *spoiler* he sneaks into her room and starts STROKING HER HAIR. And do you want to know WHY he carries that abominable milk crate around? Some people see it as cute, and honestly it's pretty romantic, but if some boy did that to me I would freak out. We don't know much about Fareeda. I love how she's super supportive of Jodi and stands up to her, but she kind of melts away from the story towards the end to put more emphasis on the stupid "love triangle drama" that happens. Stig....he's a good character. The fact that he was a dork at his school in Sweden but is trying to relish his newfound popularity in the U.S is relatable and believable. His moral battle between Jodi and Kimmy; also believable. They did a good job on Stig as a character, but I saw comments saying his Swedish accent was very unconvincing. **Spoilers** The ending is basically Jodi making a speech on how she doesn't care about the bullies and has found newfound confidence in being tall. Good ending, but again, bad execution. First of all, yes, Jodi, I know you take pride in being unique, but I'm surprised your pageant-winning, fashionable sister was okay with you wearing that monstrosity. Also, it's unrealistic that all the characters suddenly start rooting for Jodi just because she realized it's not the end of the world to be TALL. In reality, that speech was a conceited one and no one would be willing to listen to you talk about your petty problems. I'm sorry that this review is SO long, but I had to say it. If you want to watch Tall Girl, go for it. Just don't be surprised when you don't end up liking any of the characters and end up retching at the corny jokes and annoying LOVE TRIANGLE.