Tall Girl (3½ Stars)

Netflix Thursday #2

This is a Netflix original film, so it's not available on disc. It's about a tall girl, as you might have guessed from the title.

Jodi Kreyman is 16 and 6'1½". Don't forget the extra half inch. For my readers in Europe, that's 187 cm. She's not just the tallest girl in her school, she's taller than the boys. The other girls in her class bully her because of her size. This makes her an outsider. She can't get a boyfriend because she's too big for them. In the opening scene a boy is flirting with her in the library. When they stand up to leave she towers over him, so he flees.

I'll stop there. Why on Earth do boys avoid her because of her height? When I was a teenager I was successful with girls. I had more girlfriends than any of my classmates. I would have preferred a longer relationship, but the quick succession of short relationships made the other boys jealous of me. But there's one way I was never successful. I never had a girlfriend taller than me.

I'm not a giant. I'm only 5'9½" (177 cm). That's average height, so a lot of boys were taller than me, but I rarely met a girl who was taller than me. The tallest girl I knew was about 6'  (183 cm). I was attracted to tall girls, but they weren't attracted to me. The tall girls that I knew always dated tall boys, 6' tall or more. If I'd known a girl like Jodi in school I would have been crazy about her.

Stig Mohlin, a foreign exchange student from Sweden, joins her class for a year. He's the same size as her, so he doesn't feel intimidated. That's him on the right in the picture. The problem is that all of the school's pretty girls swarm around him, and he ends up dating Kimmy (on the left). She's supposedly the most beautiful girl in the school. That's what they say. I prefer Jodi.

Stig flirts with Jodi, and she thinks she has a chance, but it turns out he's an arrogant insert-rude-word-here, who's just two-timing her. The tall girl gets her heart broken. As a result she learns to accept her size. She turns up at the Homecoming dance wearing high heels, so that she can look down on Stig.

This is a coming of age drama with a difference. It could have been a lot better in the hands of a more capable director. It's too light-weight. The poignancy of a lonely girl is mentioned repeatedly, but it's not felt.

The actress Ava Michelle was 16 at the time she made the film. She's 19 now. She's only made two films, and her third film will be a sequel to "Tall Girl". She's a beautiful actress who shows talent. I hope that she'll find success in Hollywood. There aren't many tall girls in mainstream films. Elizabeth Debicki is 6'3" (191 cm) and has had some success, but she's an exception. I wish Ava Michelle the best in her career. I look forward to her future films, not just gimmic films about her height.