Movie Review: Sierra Burgess Is a Loser

Sierra Burgess Is a Loser

Director: Ian Samuels

Starring:  Shannon Purser, Kristine Froseth, RJ Cyler, Noah Centineo

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 105 Minutes

It’s been documented that I have an indifference to Netflix’s “throw everything to the wall and see what sticks” philosophy. It is making money for them, but users have a lot of garbage to sift through to find the mediocre and the good is like a needle in a haystack. Sierra Burgess is a Loser lands above the mediocre, but far from the good. Perhaps that makes it worth your time.

Sierra Burgess (Shannon Purser) plays our modern day Cyrano De Bergerac. Through chance a handsome football player, Jamey (Noah Centineo), gets the phone number for Sierra thinking she is a more popular girl named Veronica (Kristine Froseth). This is where the movie differs from Cyrano and even Roxanne, in this day and age when you get a girls number you text with her. So Jamey and Sierra begin texting even though he thinks she is Veronica. Eventually, they move to phone calls, but still under false pretenses. You have seen this movie before. You know where it is going.

The movies tired plot has two saving graces. One is Sierra’s best friend, Dan (RJ Cyler), who came onto the scene in Me and Earl and the Dying Girl. Cyler has nailed every role I have seen him in, and he does a great job here as the comedic platonic friend. The other element that I liked was Veronica’s character arc. They could have went a different way with her seeing as how she is a trope in and of herself. There are a couple of good moments here that take place within the clichéd scenes. Nothing monumental, but nothing overly tired. These movies are cookie cutters, and you have to realize that going in. You need to look for things that jump out to you and take them for what they are.

Sierra Burgess Is a Loser could have been a flop like other films of its type on Netflix. Luckily, the characters and the brevity keep it from sinking to the depths of bad “romcoms”. If you don’t like this genre then stay away from this film. If you are looking for a cute film to cuddle up on the couch with, this will do just fine.