I screened the movie early to facilitate this review. All opinions are my own.
I love a good teen rom-com, and Netflix has definitely cornered the market on those lately. When Tall Girl came out a few years ago, it was part “coming of age” movie and part rom-com. Well, Jodi and her friends are back for Tall Girl 2, but now that Jodi and Dunkleman are already official it takes a more nostalgic rom-com approach.
About the movie:
After her inspiring speech at the homecoming dance, Jodi (Ava Michelle) is no longer just the “tall girl” – she’s popular, confident, has a boyfriend, and just booked the lead role in this year’s school musical. But as the pressure of her newfound popularity intensifies, so do her insecurities, and new relationships are formed while old ones are tested. As the world she built starts to crumble around her, Jodi realizes that standing tall was only just the beginning.
What I Thought:
This movie was a fun popcorn movie. While it touched on mental health issues, it wasn’t overly dark, and it provided a couple of hours of entertainment that anyone can enjoy. I love that this is a movie I can share with my kids! I loved getting to know some of the side characters from the first movie better- some of the best moments in the film are actually between Jodi and her sister, Harper, as they navigate growing up and flying the nest. As an adult watching a teen rom-com, I sometimes want to yell at my screen to offer my sage advice to the teens who are just finding their way in the world- we’ve all been through similar moments to those playing out on screen. But they go through their experiences in their time, and they end up right where they need to be.
The entire movie feels like a John Hughes movie set in the modern day, and there’s a reason for that- that’s exactly what Director Emily Ting was going for. “The Tall Girl series owes a lot to the John Hughes 80’s rom-coms, especially Pretty in Pink. The first one was basically Pretty in Pink but where Ducky gets the girl instead of the hot guy, so I loved that we were able to rewrite the ending of a John Hughes movie. But now, it’s a different time. We were really looking up to the All The Boys franchise on Netflix, which I thought just has so much heart- it’s so silly, so charming. And that was where I wanted to take this sequel.”
One thing I absolutely loved about the movie was that it covered mental health struggles that teens- and kids and adults, too- face, including anxiety attacks and imposter syndrome. The topics were handled sensitively and with care, and as someone who has anxiety I thought it was really well done.
I recently had the chance to group interview Director Emily Ting as well as actress Angela Kinsey, who plays Jodi’s mom. Read on to hear some great advice that Angela has gotten from her mom, what might happen if we get a Tall Girl 3, and more!
What is the one thing that’s most important to you for tweens and teens to take away from this movie?
Emily Ting: I feel like the movie deals a lot with issues of self doubt, anxiety, and just some mental health issues that I feel like a lot of teenagers are going through- especially now two years into a pandemic. It’s not even just for the teenagers, it’s all of us.
I think sometimes at least for me it helps to know that someone else is also going through the same journey, so I hope they see this movie and just know that they’re not the only people going through what they’re going through and that it can help them feel a little less alone, and also remind them that they are good enough. If they ever feel that inkling of self doubt and hear that negative voice that starts percolating in their head, hopefully they could watch this movie and just be reminded to find that positive inner voice that could lift themselves up instead of tearing them down.
Jodi’s mom gives her some great advice at several points throughout the film. What is some great advice that you’ve been given in your life?
Angela Kinsey: I have three sisters and one of the things my mom has said to us our whole lives- and she’s 83 and she’s still saying it- is “Why not you?” She says it with such gusto, like why NOT?!
I grew up in Indonesia and then we moved to a rural farming community in Texas and I wanted to be an actor. No one does that, you know? That felt so big and far-fetched, but my mom would be like, “Why not you? Why not?” And I’m like “Okay, mom, I guess I’ll do it.”
I just love that advice and it’s something I try to say to my own kids when they want to tackle something that feels enormous. I’m like, “Why not you?”
What was the process like to interpret the script and develop it’s execution with the cast?
Emily Ting: This is the second film in the series, so all of the cast members, they’ve already done it once. They’ve already had their chemistry, and I got the easy task. Usually you’re exploring the characters and figuring out the back story, but they’ve already had that entire first film. All of the cast members just slipped right back into their characters very naturally and very easily.
The only one I did some extensive work with is with Ava {Ava Michelle, who plays Jodi} because now Jodi is on a different journey and really tapping into that. In the first movie it was very much an external insecurity- and the second film is very much an internal insecurity.
The movie shows mental health struggles and internal anxieties. How important was it to portray that on film and what was that process like?
Emily Ting: When I read the script, this was something that really drew me to the project because I feel like it went beyond what your typical teen rom-com is. I feel like I have never really seen the issue of imposter syndrome that manifests into an anxiety attack featured and portrayed in a teen rom-com before.
In terms of figuring out how to visualize it, I had a lot of exploration conversations with my DP {Director of Photography} where we were like, how do we get people to feel with Jodi is going through when she has these anxiety attacks? We used Requiem for a Dream as a reference where we mounted a camera directly onto Jodi when she’s having these anxiety attacks so that the audience could really see her emotions and feel what she’s going through, because you can not get any closer to an actor than mounting a camera directly onto her body.
Also, whenever you have an anxiety attack like that, you feel like there’s like waves crashing over you and the sound designer- whether the audience could hear it overtly or not- built ocean waves into the sound design when she has the anxiety attacks.
When you watch the scenes, we want the audience to feel what Jodi is going through with the sonic design and also the way we shot it. We hope to get the audience into Jodi’s skin a little bit to really feel what she’s going through in that moment.
I really liked how the characters evolved from the first film- what do you envision for the characters for the future with other films or shows?
Angela Kinsey: Here’s my pitch- Helene and Richie take their girls to Sweden to meet Stig’s family. Let’s go to Sweden!
Emily Ting: I don’t know if that’s the direction they’re taking necessarily, but even with the second film, I feel like everyone who watched the first movie probably didn’t expect that there was going to be a second movie, because Jodi ended on such a high note. She learned all her lessons, she learned to embrace her height- where could a second movie go? And lo and behold, she has new insecurities that she has to deal with.
Growing up is a tall order. There’s always more lessons to be learned and I would really love to see what senior year brings for these characters as they are stepping into adulthood, applying for college. I would love to stage a prom- that’s always been my dream to stage a prom scene in a movie.
You can watch Tall Girl 2 NOW, streaming only on Netflix!
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