Netflix – Tall Girl

by Hans A. Carpenter

Release Date: September 13

Director: Nzingha Stewart

Starring: Ava Michelle, Griffin Gluck, and Sabrina Carpenter

Mister Marquee Says: Short on laughs

Number: 3/5

Jodi (Ava Michelle) is an abnormally tall high school girl at over six-foot. She is bullied by popular girl Kimmy (Clara Wilsey), does not return the affections of her best friend Dunkleman (Griffin Gluck), and is self conscious about her height. When tall, handsome Swedish exchange student Stig (Luke Eisner) comes to her school, Jodi falls for him and is determined to date the only guy in school she thinks is tall enough for her.

About three quarters of Tall Girl is pretty good. Nothing special, but solidly entertaining, generally pretty heartfelt if inconsistently funny. This is a film with its heart in the right place, if only its jokes could have been as well. The young cast is nothing special, but that’s not really their fault. They do what they can with limited, one-note characters.

Sabrina Carpenter sticks out in her limited supporting role as Jodi’s beauty pageant winning sister. A lot of the promise of the first act is squandered by the second. The final scenes at the school’s Homecoming Dance are laughably predictable and cliche, even by RomCom standards. There was an attempt here at a teen comedy with heart in the mold of Edge of Seventeen or Ladybird, but Nzingha Stewart and company fall short of the mark. It’s a decently entertaining flick for what it is, but nothing particularly memorable. Fans of the genre may enjoy it.