Netflix's 'Sierra Burgess is a Loser' fails on so many levels

Loyalists and skeptics of the Netflix's rom-com revival may have been lured into false security with the charming To All the Boys I've Loved Before. The newly-released Sierra Burgess is a Loser seems like a natural follow up and an easy fit on the streaming service; it stars To All the Boys' Noah Centineo and Stranger Things' Shannon Purser, and it deals with everyday issues that teenagers face in 2018.

It's disappointing, then, that the film falls just so flat.

At the heart of Sierra Burgess' myriad issues is the central protagonist (Purser). When we meet Sierra, she's a well-mannered girl who has a good relationship with her parents (Back to the Future's Lea Thompson and Ferris Bueller's Alan Ruck, a real dose of nostalgia). She knows she's not the prototypical popular girl, but seems perfectly content with her high school social status, which includes her best friend (RJ Cyler, a runaway scene-stealer who deserves his own multi-picture Netflix deal ASAP), band practice, and crushing it in English class. She even owns said prototypical popular girl, Veronica (Kristine Froseth) when she tries and fails to insult Sierra. Read more...