How To Build A Girl illustrates the rise and fall of cool in search of self-actualization. Authenticity is the name of the game. The social climb from nobody to somebody inevitably comes with a lot of bad decisions. Why be yourself when you can be someone completely different? Beanie Feldstein is a damn treat, as usual, in this film based on Caitlin Moran’s semi-autobiographical novel of the same name. Set in the early ’90s during the blossoming of an awkward, literature obsessed 16-year-old, we are treated to a glow-up of her own making. In an attempt to be seen, feel relevant, and pay the bills for her financially struggling family, she takes her first real criticism and rackets up the mean. But fame and risky behavior come with a price. What is the real price for selling your soul?
Beanie Feldstein‘s physical commitment to this role is sheer perfection. The unabashed, emotionally driven weirdness we all possessed at 16 is right there on the screen. You will fall in love with the beautiful mess she portrays. It’s the romanticism she believes in that will capture and keep your heart. If you didn’t already realize it, Beanie Feldstein is a star, ladies and gentleman. Thankfully, for fans of the original novel, the screenplay is adapted by Moran and with direction from Cory Giedroyc, the film will not only serve to a YA audience but pretty much everyone. The cameos in the film are beyond impressive. The laughs are plenty but the true undertones of the film are universal. That first taste of freedom and feigned adulthood oftentimes backfire. Who can’t relate to those themes? Some of us (most of us) are still trying to figure that all out.
Available today ON DEMAND!
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