It Feels Like I’ve Seen This Before

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MOVIE REVIEW
Senior Year
–

Genre: Comedy, Drama
Year Released: 2022
Runtime: 1h 51m
Director(s): Alex Hardcastle
Writer(s): Andrew Knauer, Arthur Pielli, Brandon Scott Jones
Cast: Rebel Wilson, Angourie Rice, Mary Holland, Molly Brown, Sam Richardson, Zaire Adams, Zoe Chao, Ana Yi Puig, Justin Hartley, Tyler Barnhardt, Jade Bender, Chris Parnell, Avantika
Where To Watch: Streaming on Netflix

Let’s get this out of the way first; this wasn’t a good movie. I try to remain open and find the best about any movie; unfortunately, that well was pretty dry here. Even objectively, there were very few positives that I could think to praise the film with. One of my most significant issues was the runtime; clocking in at almost 2 hours felt like a stretch for the story they had here.

The short-lived three-season series from 1999, STRANGERS WITH CANDY, did a far better job telling this type of story than this film did. Although not identical, the film and series share some common themes with an adult going back to school and showing their struggles as they try to tackle the apparent issues. This was probably more just my attempt to get another set of eyes on one of my favorite dark comedies from back in the day than anything.

The film isn’t without merit; I thought Angourie Rice (SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME) did a great job as the young Stephanie. Unfortunately, I felt Rebel Wilson (PITCH PERFECT) struggled as the film's lead. Wilson has had a string of films that have underperformed, whether that was her fault or not. I enjoy her comedic style, but it felt like there was too much force here. While this isn’t Wilson’s fault, I felt the weird CGI moments were noticeable; whatever amount of “being lost in the film” that I had, was instantly shaken out of when they attempted to “de-age” her.

Several moments made me chuckle and even laugh, but there were just as many that left me genuinely scratching my head. It makes sense to me that this is a Netflix film, I shouldn’t, but I still associate them with primarily lower-grade films. More often than not, when I watch a Netflix original, I find myself understanding why this is on Netflix instead of the big screen. This isn’t true of all their originals, but you can feel that they reach for quantity over quality more often than not.

If you have some time to kill and are looking for a few laughs, I could recommend other choices. However, if you’re a Netflix binge-watcher, my thoughts on this likely won’t change anything, but I would just warn you to proceed with caution; if you set your expectations realistically, you won’t be too let down.

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