While writing this article, the first question I thought to myself is, “Where do I even begin?” There were so many things happening in this movie, but not in a good way. However, before I get into why I disliked this movie so much, here is some background. This movie revolves around the lives of two characters: Cairo Sweet, played by Jenna Ortega and Jonathan Miller, played by Martin Freeman. Cairo is portrayed as a quiet girl who is fascinated with literature. She uses it as an escape from reality since she lives in a small town. Miller, on the other hand, is a retired writer who moved to a small town in order to pursue teaching.
Right off the bat, you could tell this movie wasn’t going to be good. The directors introduced Ortega’s character as one of those lonely yet bright students whom believes they are too “mature” for high school. Furthermore, her character became unbearable the first few minutes when she complained about being wealthy and living most of the time by herself. Don’t get me wrong, I can see where being left alone all the time may be annoying, but I feel like after a while you get used to it. Instead, she drowns in her misery and reads depressing books which only adds to her angst.
Another thing that annoyed me was Cairo’s friend Winnie, played by Gideon Adlon. Unlike Cairo, Winnie is more wild, and she doesn’t care about school. However, she is a bad influence, which eventually rubs off on Cairo. For example, one afternoon, Winnie was having a conversation with Cairo about how she likes older men. This conversation eventually evolves into her dating her gym teacher and pushing Cairo to do the same, which she does.
The next day, Cairo approaches Mr. Miller, her english teacher, and behaves very flirty with him. From there, their relationship grows closer until eventually ending with Mr. Miller losing feelings for her. Overall, the plot of the movie could’ve been good, but the production and lines delivered made this movie unbearable. Cairo only communicated through 1800s literature, and the cinematography had me confused on whether the whole relationship was in her head or not. I definitely had high hopes for this movie given the actors are very well-known and both have given amazing performances; however, I was proved wrong. I would give this movie a 3/10 just because the actors are good and the plot was there, but they just needed a better script and director.
