Barely Lethal, in which Hailee Steinfeld plays a teenage ninja on special operations who hates her job and yearns to be like a normal high school girl, was something that rang out a lady had great ideas, but – as it was made clear in the very title of the film – never became better than its own set of bland self-derived wit.
If there’s someone to ‘blame’ for complaining about Kidnapper, Barely Lethal is from Fanboys’ Kyle Newman, both have some impressive names, main and then some- Samuel L. Jackson, Jessica Alba, Sophie Turner of Game of Thrones fame , however both variants are cursed with a muddled tone, cheesy plot twists: and would you believe it, impressive names who turn out to be quite the opposite when immersed in humor.
Steinfeld stars as ‘Agent 83’ in an orphanage cum assassin training school called Prescott School, which does not exist in any official documents. Think the “Black Widow” program, except it’s a parody. And imagine that Sam Jackson, who stars as Instructor Hardman, reprimandering a 6 year old girl because she detonated the toy bomb she was ordered to make. Well, during a mission to capture the beautiful but deadly Victoria Knox (Alba), under 83’s custody, Knox had to abandon 83 so that they would not need to ‘rescue’ her even if the words infuriated Hardman 83 adopted that excuse for faking her death and going to high school as a foreign exchange student Megan.
Why? Because 83, wants to live in her youth and enjoy the life of a normal sixteen year old girl. As it was very well presented to us in some nice animated opening credits, she has always been the black sheep of the academy. Still, since the premise is the premise she was actually also a lot more capable than anyone else (and she was the one who wanted to be there the least). A very easily earned “frenemy” with second best Agent 84 (Turner).
What then does Barely Lethal fail at? By attempting to aggregate too many tonalities. Grosse point blank touches are there but then there are parts which seem like a Disney TV movie. You want to rate it R, but it is PG-13 because it is ashamed of its worth regarding some sexy talking and a few f-words, and yet also stream-lined.
Fourteen for me is perhaps the worst in this regard as Romansski by this age is more than fully acquainted with the the 80s. And here’s the strangest part: The teenage, high school comedies that we all know and love exist in this world. There are certain aspects that are quite “cloud in tea” in a fighting tea set up or in this case to good of women against women films. There’s even a part where 83 won’t sit with some girls at lunch because she thinks they will be like the mean girls she has seen on television. My school has this wonderful potential where actual films and motion pictures are made. Useful in interpreting cladistic contexts- a British Dave in Kick-Ass went swearing only once throughout the whole movie.
It would be like if in the movie Kick-Ass, Dave watched Donner’s Superman, Romero’s Spider-man, and Nolan’s batman series in order to prepare for 158 David, forgives me for the omission of the grammar lesson in simple terms – the plot of that movie – IMHO somehow goes along with all of them. What is it that every ridiculously understated movie Drama is made sure that all emotions are over the top? Well, in the sense. Barely Lethal is having an identity crisis and it is painful, there are lookey no more than buffet of cliques in which begin Dummies, Scar, each team these something from here. In the meantime, everybody else speaks in over-intellectualized “listicle” speak and gesticulate in inappropriate ways for the characters.
Are there benefits to appreciating Alba portray a fiery badass villainess? Yeah. What about Turner being in a combateous vixen role that has some action sequences? Of course, he would say. Jackson himself even looks here to to be more entertained than that which he swears admirably doing for his VOD actioners in a flash. But this film still however only somehow pulls it off in too many ways.
As for the less-known members of Schoenfield’s supporting high school actors, they appeared more comfortable in a teen comedy than in a deadpan sinister drama. Chronicle of Roger brought in a disillusioned “Justin Long” vibe while Toby Sebastian (who has finally made it to this season of game of thrones!) found chances expressing himself through his tools loving wannabe singer Cash, described as the milestone’d “ass child of Criss Angel and Russel Brand”. All in all, the one who impresses the most in my opinion would be Dove Cameron’s Liz who lived with the family under the exchange program. Some of her lines are a bit off, however, she is the most comfortable in these surroundings.
Conclusion
Regrettably, Barely Lethal never decides whether it’s an edgy or an innocent film. Some scenes come with a perverted twist while some seem to be kid-friendly. It wants to have a place among the great teen comedies, however their specific ways of being used as a plot element, unfortunately, fail. [poilib element=”accen divider”] Barely Lethal is currently showing in select theaters as well as available for video on demand.
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