Netflix is clearly having a summer of high school dramas and teenage romcoms. Not too long ago, they released ‘To All The Boys I Loved Before’ and it was an instant hit; the memes and tweets were endless. They seem to have been successful yet again with their new movie ‘Sierra Burgess Is A Loser’.
Similar to its predecessor, Sierra Burgess created a lot of buzz on Twitter.
Sierra Burgess is a Loser is the cutest movie I’ve ever watched 😭
— yuli🌧 (@yulissaaag) September 13, 2018
While there was love for the movie, it caused a bit of an Apple-Android war
sierra burgess is a loser because she fell for a guy with an android
— 🌞🌻 (@caroline_merkel) September 13, 2018
There are a lot of problems in 'Sierra Burgess is a Loser,' beginning with the absurd depiction of an iPhone user being able to see their non-iPhone correspondent type pic.twitter.com/FtyLFHotLI
— Proma (@promawhatup) September 10, 2018
The movie features a song that has made a lot of us shed tears
"But i'm a sunflower, a little funny. If i were a rose, maybe you'd want me. If i could i'd change overnight, i'd turn into something you like"
Sunflower 🌻 – Sierra Burgess Is A Loser pic.twitter.com/hzDIZGACWp
— 🌚 (@waaaninonino) September 10, 2018
The movie will also make you fall in love with the ‘villain’ because like she has a heart
veronica’s character development in sierra burgess is a loser is everything pic.twitter.com/PRcfIPnp1Y
— kristine froseth archive (@archivkristine) September 10, 2018
Moreover, what a lot of people loved about the movie was how real it was
dan speaks for most of us when it comes to peter kavinsky and jamey pic.twitter.com/DjGM8hxdn0
— mari (@chbellamy) September 8, 2018
Now, I saw ALL these tweets and thought, ‘Hmm, achi movie hogi!’.
It goes without saying that this film is shot beautifully, just like any other Netflix production. The colors, the costumes, and the general aesthetic were all just on point.
The movie follows Sierra Burgess, her father is a famous author and her mother is a motivational speaker.
She raised in a household that teaches her to love herself for who she is, however, high school is not so kind. She is bullied for her large build and not being as beautiful as the rest of the girls. In this process, we are introduced to the school Head Bitch, Veronica. She teases Sierra and takes down her poster for home tuitions. Now, Veronica being the head cheerleader and all, she gets asked out a lot, and one day, she gets asked out by Jamey. As a joke, she gives Sierra’s number from the poster she tore down and hence becomes the tale of catfishing.
Jamey messages ‘Veronica’ (who is actually Sierra), and the conversations are never ending, but when Sierra finds out who Jamey things he’s talking to, she freaks out. She really likes this guy, so she strikes a deal with Veronica to help her ‘appear smarter’ to get back her college-going ex back, in return for helping her out. So Veronica takes selfies and videos to help out Sierra, the height of it is when Sierra asks her to go out on a date with Jamey.
The rest of the story rights itself; Veronica accidentally kisses Jamey and Sierra sees it, so Sierra makes a fool out of her in front of the school by hacking into her Instagram. Jamey then finds out he’s being catfished, everything goes to shit, and then Sierra writes a heartfelt song AND EVERYTHING ENDS WELL AND THEY ALL LIVE HAPPILY EVER AFTER.
let me list all the shit that made sierra burgess is a loser a dumb movie:
– repeatedly transphobic and lesbophobic
– non con kissing scene!! it was fuckin creepy!!
– glorifying cat fishing
– had potential to be an uplifting romcom with plus size girl rep but instead… you know— myr (@anakinsglory) September 12, 2018
Catfishing is NOT okay and honestly, the movie really glorifies it.
Of course, they never actually call it that in the movie, but it’s a horrible thing to pretend to be someone else, manipulate someone’s feelings and then go on to break their heart. It’s really messed up. Sierra literally faces NO repercussions for her actions, other than a few days of heartbreak.
*spoiler alert* Sierra Burgess Is a Loser is a movie about Noah Centineo's character living happily ever after with his abuser.
— Shamir (@ShamirBailey) September 13, 2018
What’s worse is that when Veronica and Jamey go on a date, Veronica gets Sierra to kiss Jamey and like, NO. That is not right. These movies are targetted towards teens and young adults and this type of message is NOT what they need to be seeing.
Sierra Burgess Is a Loser 👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼
Trash. She did not deserve that happy ending. Low self esteem/bullying is not an excuse for what she did.
— 🌙👶🏻🦈🐰🗝🔥 (@mystery__lover) September 13, 2018
People from the deaf community also have issues with the movie and its depiction of deaf people.
When news broke that there’s a deaf character in the movie, people were happy to see representation happening, however, the deaf character was only used to complete a joke. When Sierra and Jamey actually meet (accidentally), Sierra chooses not to talk since Jamey said previously that he would recognize her voice anywhere- so she decides to play deaf, little does she know that Jamey’s brother is deaf. This was really just insensitive of the makers of the film to do and there’s nothing more to say about it either.
So one of my close friends' deaf brother is in Sierra Burgess
When I learned, I was elated. Finally more deaf actors/representation & ASL inclusion in films
… Only to find out the deaf character was written and used for a terrible joke.
PS- pretending to be deaf is NOT ok.
— Nyle DiMarco (@NyleDiMarco) September 9, 2018
For me, the only savior of the film was Veronica.
She really went through a transformation throughout the film. She became a better person, more accepting and more loving. What does she get in return for all this- someone hacking her Instagram and shaming her in front of the whole school. Even in the end, Veronica goes to Jamey to convince him to forgive Sierra. I mean, BRAVO!
Have you seen the film? Let us know what you thought in the comments 🙂