Sierra Burgess Is A Loser (2018)

Director: Ian Samuels
Writers: Lindsey Beer
Genre: Drama, Romance
Running Time: 105 minutes
Cast: Shannon Purser, Kristine Froseth, RJ Cyler, Noah Centineo
Country: US
Production Companies: Black Label Media
Distribution: Netflix Original Film
Certificate Rating: 12
My Rating: 3/5

Just Be You. 



Sierra Burgess is a loser. At least that's what she thinks she is when she battles the norms of high school life. Considered herself a nobody, a simple band practice girl, and living up to her Dad’s fame, Sierra (Shannon Purser) is suddenly messaged by an unknown person, named Jamey (Noah Centineo). As their mobile conversation continues Sierra realises that Jamey thinks she is someone else, head cheerleader Veronica (Kristine Froseth). In an attempt to make ends meet Sierra keeps up the facade that Jamey is talking to Veronica, and she tries forms a plan: Sierra will educate Veronica if Veronica keeps playing along with the relationship.

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Sierra Burgess has been considered a Cyrano de Bergerac story, a play written by Edmond Rostand following similar plot points in which a character who deems themselves unpretty uses fellow acquaintances to reach their final desire, the love interest. A lot of people have picked up that Cyrano de Bergerac sounds a little like Sierra Burgess, coincidence? I think not. 

 The film is heavily laden with 80’s synth music and pays tribute to John Hughes and his Brat Pack, even featuring two of the Brat Pack members theirselves; Leah Thompson (star of Back to the Future and Some Kind of Wonderful) and Alan Ruck (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off) who portray Sierra’s parents. Sierra, played by fan favourite of Netflix users Shannon Purser (Stranger Things’ Barb), struggles to live up to her fathers expectations, he is an award-winning novelist and hopes that one day she will be too. 

 Despite the feel of the film being heavily affected by teen movies of the 80’s we are brought into the present with the main theme of online romance and finding love through modern technology. Most of the films audience would have been brought up in an age of online communication; constant messaging via phones, social media, and online platforms, making the situation all to real and comfortable for the viewers. This is what we are used to, right? The viewers realise that as Sierra gets to know Jamey, and Jamey unknowingly thinks he’s talking to Veronica, that this resembles a lot of  the dark side of online romance such as Catfishing. Catfishing is the act of speaking to someone without knowing their full identity, in that they have kept it from you or are lying about who they truly are. How can us as a viewer align with the main character when she is ultimately catfishing Jamey to her advantage? 

The first two acts of the film show little or lack of human interaction between Sierra and Jamey as they hide away in their rooms and talk through texts. It isn’t until Sierra makes a deal with Veronica to help each other out that Sierra even gets a chance to see him in real life, coning Veronica into a date with Jamey in aid of Sierra educating Veronica to make her seem more intelligent for her college boyfriend. The first date makes the audience feel a little uncomfortable as Veronica squirms in her cinema seat unsure of how to act. It isn’t until the end of the date when Veronica and Jamey are talking in the car park, and Sierra hiding underneath the car to earwig on the conversation, that Veronica decides to help Sierra in a weird move that allows Sierra to kiss Jamey rather than Veronica. 

Sierra Burgess Is A Loser focuses on young adults insecurities. Sierra is constantly striving to be better: better than her parents, better than her CV, almost better than her friends and high school peers. It almost feels like she is trying to achieve the ideal 'American Dream': get a good CV, go to a fantastic college and get a dreamy looking boyfriend and become a success. However the forefocus is that her insecurities are holding her back from all of this. When the film first opens we see Sierra walk into the bathroom and look in the mirror at herself saying “You are a magnificent beast”. From this opening we could assume that she is a positive female character, however the introduction of her parents around the breakfast table then makes reality come crashing down as we realise the words they say affect her. 

 In a way all four of the main characters are flawed in one way or another. Take Sierra’s best friend Dan at school who is constantly striving to be the best. In a conversation about the future Sierra tells him he’ll be fine as he can count on his straight A’s, however he replies, “I’ve got to create Google 2.0, or swim backstroke while playing the violin at the Olympics” insisting that in this day and age to stand out you really need to be miraculous. Dan is seen vlogging high school dramas as a way to better his CV with extra curricular to help get spotted by a great institution. 

 Likewise Veronica, the head cheerleader which stereotypically holds the conventions of pretty, wealthy and has an overachieving family, also deals with insecurities of her own. Seen at school to be the head bully, and the story really wouldn’t play out if it wasn’t for Veronica playing a trick on Jamey and Sierra, Veronica’s family background is very different. At home her plus-size Mum is an beauty pageant fanatic, forcing her two younger sisters to eat well and practice for events. In the scene where Veronica has Sierra come over to tutor Sierra watches the room’s event unfold: Veronica getting frustrated that she can’t focus, whilst her sisters run energetically around the room taunting Veronica on how stupid she is. In this scene you see Sierra realising that even the people you think have perfect lives do not. 

 Lastly Jamey, in quite a comical scene of its own, is shown to have insecurities. Whilst messaging away to Sierra, he takes a photo of himself in the mirror, tensing his muscles to appeal to her. This moment is funny as we see the dorky, adorable and funny side of Jamey as he struggles to take the perfect photo in an aim to please her. Again another comment on the majority of online romances. 

Overall I did enjoy the film but I didn’t love it. I found it hard to align with the titular character who was ultimately catfishing her crush for the benefit of herself. Plus she gets the help of the original “villain” in the story, Veronica, to help, only then to back stab Veronica towards the end of the film by posting Veronica’s breakup with her college boyfriend at the school's sporting event. Yet all the while Sierra gets her happy ending. Despite some of my criticism the film is an easy-going watch and there are a few funny, sometimes cringey, moments in the film. Above all the true moral of the story is the struggle to find who you truly are in this modern world. We are surrounded by highlight reels of friends and celebrities lives and we fight a battle to show the best parts of our lives too. 

What did you all think of the film? Comment down below how you felt. 

Enjoy x

IMDb: Sierra Burgess Is A Loser