Netflix is notorious for producing cheesy teen movies like “The Kissing Booth”, “The Perfect date”, and “To all the Boys I’ve Loved Before.” However, with its newest release “Tall Girl”, my standards have been lowered to a point I didn’t know was possible. The ridiculously confusing plot and it’s underdeveloped characters set an unprecedented level of lazy effort put into a Netflix original movie.

The main protagonist, Jodi (played by Ava Michelle) is a high school junior who happens to be the only tall girl attending her school, and possibly even her whole town. Her love life seems non-existent besides her male friend named Jack (Griffin Gluck), who is constantly flirting with her in creepy and unsettling ways. Jodi’s life is drastically changed when coincidentally, a handsome, Swedish foreign exchange student (who is the only other person Jodi  has ever met that is taller than her) named Stig (Luke Eisner) comes into her life like the “Prince Charming” he is portrayed as. The scenarios leading up to the plot are cliche and predictable, leaving me disappointed with its overly-exaggerated series of events and cringe-worthy dialogue. 

The beginning tells the whole plot of the movie: Jodi introduces herself as a high school junior who has a difficult life because of her height.

People who might be struggling with their body image will relate to Jodi in some ways, especially if they’re constantly being bullied for their insecurities. But in today’s modern world, there are plenty of other issues to worry about other than being a 6-foot tall high school student, and Netflix does a poor job trying to incorporate body positivity as one of its themes. Jodi never attempts to turn her life around by using her height as an advantage. Playing sports, for example, could help her deal with some self-deprecating issues she has buried inside or even attempting to model since she is conventionally a tall, hot blonde. But the fact that she never does anything worthy makes her a dislikable character. Later in the movie, it is revealed that she knows how to play the piano, but no longer does because of how embarrassed she has become of her height. She has no likable character traits which causes me to be disinterested in the movie to begin with. 

Stig, the foreign exchange student, is coincidentally living with Jack and tries to enchant Jodi into falling in love with him, despite him having a girlfriend named Kimmy who attends the same school. 

The rest of the movie follows a mindless love triangle between the three main characters all the while Jodi keeps getting made fun of because of her height. I mean, c’mon, Netflix, how many times can you use the same joke in a single movie? Nobody in the real world asks a tall people “How’s the weather like up there?” attempting to make fun of them. 

After some more cliche and head-banging moments in the movie, Stig is revealed as a player who does not care for Jodi’s well-being, and Jack is unveiled as her “true love” who has been there all along — another predictable plot twist. 

Senior, Victoria Culp had a few thoughts on the movie herself. “I mean it wasn’t bad I guess. I didn’t hate it but I also didn’t relate to it.” Being a 5 foot 10 inches isn’t the tallest for Victoria, but she certainly isn’t the shortest senior at North. 

“I honestly forget I am tall most of the time. Every once in a while I will be walking somewhere where I’m taller than everyone else, but for the most part, I forget.”

The Netflix original fails to encapsulate the life of a teenager struggling with her height with over-the-top, unrealistic screenplay, and while not being all that tall myself, I certainly didn’t find the movie emotionally moving or funny as intended.