Film Review: 'Tall Girl'

All her life, Jodi Kreyman (Ava Michelle) has struggled with the one thing everyone notices her for: her 6'1 height, as at 16, she finds herself ostracized as "The Tall Girl" and branded countless other cruel nicknames—with her main tormentor being Queen Bee Kimmy Stitcher (Clara Wilsey). The onslaught of bullying has left Jodi's self-worth in shambles, and not even the encouragement of her best friends Fareeda and Jack (Anjelika Washington and Griffin Gluck) is enough to break her from her funk.

One day, however, salvation comes in the form of Swedish exchange student Stig Mohlin (Luke Eisner), who catches Jodi's eyes both for his good looks and compatible height. While Kimmy quickly sets about having Stig for herself, Jodi finds herself striking a connection with Stig—aided by both her friends and her older sister Harper (Sabrina Carpenter). But as things become complicated, Jodi will come to learn a few things about herself and the flaws she finds in herself.

For much of its runtime, Tall Girl seemed like it would be an enjoyable enough teen rom-com with a nice empowering message behind it. It was by no means perfect, given how it gets off to a rocky start by having its protagonist talk about being tall like its the worst thing that could ever happen to a person will certainly elicit groans, and there's a particularly nerve-grating character I will talk about later. But when taken as a somewhat fluffy teen flick, Tall Girl was not half bad, and even had the makings of pulling a strong and message about self-worth from itself. Going into the third act, I had stronger hopes for this film than I expected to have for it going in...

So imagine my immense disappointment at seeing the film take a huge fall in its final act before ending on a sour note. As annoying as this ending would be on its own, Tall Girl makes it all the worse because prior to it, the film appeared to be building itself up for a far more rewarding ending that would prove a rarity in the market of teen films. But instead of following through this powerful ending that it appeared to be setting up, the film takes a sharp turn and goes right into the direction I was hoping it wouldn't go.

Now, to go into the positives before diving into the meat of the matter, Tall Girl bolsters a solid cast that does well with what they are given. Relatively new to the acting game Ava Michelle is solid as Jodi, selling Jodi's often self-deprecating snark, her emotional moments in which a light is shined on how low Jodi's self-worth really is, and her moments in which an inner fire is revealed to be hiding beneath Jodi's crippling confidence issues. A scene in which Jodi blasts her father for his obsession with her height making her feel worse about herself is a particularly poignant moment, and one that is sure to strike a chord for other viewers as well. Luke Eisner (also fairly fresh to the game) is a blast to watch come alive onscreen as Stig, bringing a natural charm and energy to the screen. He and Michelle also share easy chemistry together, making the viewer root for their relationship to endure both Jodi's self-doubt and the various obstacles that surround it.

Sabrina Carpenter is fun as the comically intense Harper and shares a touching moment with Michelle as Harper opens up emotionally to her sister, and Steve Zahn has a few sweet moments with Michelle where he's able to develop Jodi's father Richie into more than just an "Innocently Insensitive Bumbling Dad" archetype (though the same unfortunately can't be said for Jodi's mother Helaine as played by Angela Kinsey, who receives no such moment). Lastly, there's Anjelika Washington as Jodi's supportive best friend Fareeda, who brings charm and strength to her role and has a strong moment in which she affirms her belief in Jodi being able to stand up for herself and be firm in loving herself.

While Fareeda does have a moment that almost pushes her into unlikability, she's Mother Teresa in comparison to the film's hands-down worst character: Jack Dunkleman. While the film may call Jack Jodi's best friend, Jack is in actuality far from it. Jack is, instead, the epitome of the Self-Proclaimed Nice Guy: the guy who has been in love with his best friend forever and believes he should be with her simply based on that merit alone. Jack is introduced persistently flirting with and trying to convince a clearly uninterested Jodi to be with him, using the argument that finding the guy she does want to be with is a hopeless pursuit—and he only goes downhill when Stig enters the picture.

In addition to being rude to Stig when he becomes his exchange host, Jack begins pulling the classic Self-Proclaimed Nice Guy move of treating Jodi horribly for the crime of not returning his feelings. Even better? WARNING: Minor Spoilers Ahead When he finds that Stig is conflicted about kissing Jodi while dating Kimmy—the latter of whom he clearly doesn't want to be with—Jack manipulates Stig into avoiding Jodi and staying with Kimmy, with the shots of Jack in tears before he does so seemingly suggesting the audience should feel bad for him. Minor Spoilers Over

But for all of Jack's terrible behavior, Tall Girl's second act surprised me by seemingly going in a different direction than other films would go with a character like this. In addition to Jodi standing up against Jack's vindictive behavior, it appeared the film was building up to Jack realizing how awful he was treating Jodi and finally learn to move on from his fruitless crush, while Jodi learns she doesn't need a toxic friend like him in her life. Additionally, Tall Girl took the surprising route of taking a moment to highlight how insecurity can affect anyone; Harper, Stig, and Kimmy (all of whom are seen by Jodi as physical perfection) are shown to have some degree of insecurity. This could've led to a broader resolution that employed all these characters and, thus, delivered a more powerful message on self-worth.

WARNING: Spoilers Below

But instead, Tall Girl leaves many of these threads dangling, with the most egregious example being Kimmy's informed insecurities being left undeveloped, forcing her to end the movie as nothing more than a cliche "Queen Bee Bully" archetype. What's more, Stig's insecurities and his development from a popularity-obsessed jerk into a confident person willing to finally leave Kimmy and her toxic influence is left hanging due to him and Jodi not reconciling, instead choosing to suddenly decide she does want to be with Jack—whose final moments and ending "confession" don't inspire confidence that he has redeemed himself for his horrendous entitlement complex. In addition, this moment serves to negate Jack's character growth by rewarding him for the behavior the film initially appeared to be properly vilifying.

(On a side note, this conclusion also renders the character of Liz redundant; another disappointing decision due to Liz being played with adorkable charm by Paris Berelc)

Spoilers Over

For all the charm and strengths its cast brings and the strong build-up it had going for it, the final act of Tall Girl horrifically drops the ball on what could've been a strong entry to the heavily criticized teen romance genre. The solid two acts that precede the horrendous finale bring enough good to make me want to recommend the film, particularly due to the infectious chemistry between Ava Michelle and Luke Eisner. So come for them and the rest of the enjoyable cast, and maybe end the film before the third act if you want to avoid the temptation of breaking whatever device you're watching on.

Score: 5 out of 10 musical movie nights.