Tall Girl 2 (2022)

Streaming Service: Netflix
Movie Name/Year: Tall Girl 2 (2022)
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Family
Length: 97 minutes
Rating: TV-PG
Production/Distribution: Wonderland Sound and Vision, Netflix
Director: Emily Ting
Writer: Sam Wolfson
Actors: Ava Michelle, Griffin Gluck, Sabrina Carpenter, Anjelika Washington, Luke Eisner, Steve Zahn, Angela kinsey, Clara Wilsey, Rico Paris, Jan Luis Castellanos, Johanna Liauw, Chris Wylde, Rachael Thompson
 
Blurb from IMDb: After Jodi Kreyman gains popularity, her miscommunications start causing rifts with those around her and now she really needs to 'stand tall'.
 

Selina’s Point of View:
The first Tall Girl (2019) left both me and Cat disappointed. It was cringy and hollow. The trailer for Tall Girl 2, however, did leave some room for hope.
 
Unfortunately, I remain disappointed.
 
It took a while, but I’ve figured out my biggest problem with the Tall Girl films: they’re too familiar.
 
I’m not talking about tropes now. Just about every teen film made since before I was born follows a recipe. They make teens feel less alone. They help kids place – even understand – the insecurities that come with growing up. That means that teen-genre films mostly touch on all the same issues. It’s old hat to adults, but those movies aren’t meant for us. Kids are seeing it all for the first time. That’s a familiarity I don’t mind feeling.
 
The familiarity that bothers me with the Tall Girl films is more of a generational sort.
 
One of my favorite things about newer teen films is that they seem to have evolved with the times. They present a childhood that doesn’t represent mine, but more of what generation Z and generation Alpha do, and will, experience. It’s a sneak peek into how times have changed.
 

Tall Girl and Tall Girl 2 doesn’t feel like that. They feel like they could have been made in 90s, with no changes to script or setting or anything else, and they’d be the same films. I understand that nostalgia makes money, but here is where that definitely goes wrong.
 
It winds up feeling like a teen movie made for the wrong generations.
 
On top of that, just about every pitfall that tripped up Tall Girl hits Tall Girl 2 as well. It’s difficult to watch.
 
That said, there is one thing Tall Girl 2 does very right.
 
Throughout the film, the main character is afflicted with an inner voice that criticizes everything she does. It makes her feel like a fraud. Like she’s the worst person to ever walk the planet. When it starts to affect the story, things come close to dipping into thriller territory. It’s super relatable and well done.
 
I wish that much thought had gone into the rest of it.
 

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 57%
Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 24%
Metascore – 35%
Metacritic User Score – None
IMDB Score – 4.7/10
 
Trust the Dice: Selina’s Rating – 2/5
 
Movie Trailer: