"Barely Lethal" - A fun and overhated Teen/Action film.

"Barely Lethal"

Directed by: Kyle Newman.

Written by: Kyle Newman, John D'Arco.

Release date: April 23, 2015

This movie released back in 2015, and many critics called it a bad film. While everyone has their own opinion, calling this movie "A waste of time" or "dreadful" as some reviews stated is downright too harsh towards this film. "Barely Lethal" is a fun and comforting film for the most part, many teens can relate to a lot of the aspects of the film. It's not a masterpiece or anything, but it surely isn't a terrible movie by any means. The film had it's cringe moments at times for sure, but nothing to completely ruin the movie. Hailee Steinfeld is an amazing and underrated actress and she had a great performance in this film, her playing a teenager is always a delight to watch.

The relationship between Megan and Liz was pretty well done, Liz not being really fond of Megan at first but then slowly getting more and more with her was something nice to see. The film had a few funny scenes, a lot of the comedy was pretty well written.

It was a typical teen film sometimes, but that isn't always a bad thing or too bothering, it was fun and a comforting movie for the most part. The moments with action sequences had some pretty bad special effects and CGI though, that is a negative of the film for sure. along

The movie had some really relatable teenager struggles, with Megan trying to fit in at her High School and feeling a bit like an outcast. Sure some of it is a bit exaggerated, but what teen movie doesn't do this? Megan overall was a really good character. Some reviews say she was an awful character and it doesn't make much sense, as she was overall an enjoyable character who had a mixture of realistic and unrealistic qualities.

Well for one, no teen is taken in to be a special ops agent and trained to be a killing machine, obviously. But at some point, every team feels like they just want to fit in and be "Normal" like the other kids, much like Megan. This was a very big focal point of the movie, Megan just wanting to fit in and be a normal kid, see the good mixture of fiction and reality there? that's one of the things that made this movie interesting and a fun viewing.

Romance wasn't too big of a focus in the film, but there was Roger. He had an obvious crush on Megan, but sadly she was all over this cool musician guy named Toby. It was pretty well written, Megan ignoring Roger for Toby really made you feel a bit bad for him, he was a really nice guy and clearly he deserved better than that.

Thankfully at the end of the film Megan realizes he's been crushing on her since the beginning and it seems like they end up dating. Again, romance didn't play a big role but the few scenes we got with Megan and Roger were nice and they definitely had chemistry.

Another negative of the film is that we didn't really see too much of Megan with her foster family. Getting a few more scenes with them and developing their relationship would have made the movie a whole lot better. The only scenes we really got a lot of were with Megan and Liz, their relationship was great but her relationship with her foster mom and brother should have been focused on as well.

It's not like this was really supposed to be a family movie for the most part, at the end of the day, it was sort of supposed to be an action film in a way, but showing Megan's relationship with her first actual family surely wouldn't have hurt the film.

overall thoughts and rating:

• Negatives: Pacing was a bit too fast, Megan's relationship with her foster family wasn't explored enough, Special effect and CGI were pretty bad.
• Positives: Really relatable teenager issues, pretty good humor and often a funny film, The relationship development between Megan with Liz and Roger, always entertaining and never boring at any point.
• Overall Rating: 7/10

In conclusion:

Sure "Barely Lethal" might not be a masterpiece or whatever, but if you're looking for a fun and comforting film, then definitely give it a watch if you have not. It's a fun coming of age type of movie that will make you have a few giggles and relate to the main character. If you're not a nit picker who wants every film to be "Perfect" of course.

Definitely don't go into this movie expecting to be absolutely blown away and saying to yourself "Oh my God, now this is CINEMA". It's not that kind of movie, but it is definitely worth a watch if you're bored and need some time to kill.

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