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A mother & her daughter confront the intimidation of teen peer pressure & the emotionally brutalizing social rituals of high school. Studio: Lions Gate Home Ent. Release Date: 05/22/2007 Starring: Alexa Vega Leah Pipes Run time: 85 minutes Rating: Pg
"Girls are brutal," a father warns his young son in the course of Odd Girl Out. "They… tear each other to bits over the smallest things." Director Tom McLoughlin's 2005 film proves it, too, offering up a harrowing tale of one teenager's horrendous treatment at the hands of her high school classmates. When we meet Vanessa (Alexa Vega, also seen in
A mother & her daughter confront the intimidation of teen peer pressure & the emotionally brutalizing social rituals of high school. Studio: Lions Gate Home Ent. Release Date: 05/22/2007 Starring: Alexa Vega Leah Pipes Run time: 85 minutes Rating: Pg
"Girls are brutal," a father warns his young son in the course of Odd Girl Out. "They… tear each other to bits over the smallest things." Director Tom McLoughlin's 2005 film proves it, too, offering up a harrowing tale of one teenager's horrendous treatment at the hands of her high school classmates. When we meet Vanessa (Alexa Vega, also seen in Spy Kids), she's a reluctant member of a group of spoiled, snooty girls who rule the school hallways like designer-dressed harpies. But when she betrays "best friend" and clique leader Stacey (Malcolm in the Middle's Leah Pipes), it all starts to go south; little matter that said betrayal is actually concocted by the genuinely vicious Nikki (Elizabeth Rice). What begins as a relatively petty campaign of text messages, rumor-mongering, and daily ostracism soon escalates into full-scale torment and cruelty, including a particularly nasty website, an invitation to a party that doesn't exist (the better to humiliate the eager and insecure Vanessa), and her near-tragic reaction to these events. McLoughlin's resume includes TV shows based on A Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th, so it's no surprise that this film has a stylized, horror film vibe; there is nothing remotely light-hearted about this story (loosely based on Rachel Simmons' non-fiction book Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture Of Aggression In Girls), which focuses not only on Vanessa's nightmare but on the well-meaning but futile efforts of her mother (Lisa Vidal) to help. But having stoked the viewer to expect Stacey, Nikki, and their co-conspirators to get the comeuppance they so richly deserve, the director delivers a largely unsatisfying denoument. Too bad, because up until then, Odd Girl Out is a real eye-opener, and a frighteningly accurate account of the living hell that is high school life. --Sam Graham
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Manufacturer: Lions Gate
Release date: 10 January 2006
Number of discs: 1
EAN: 0012236187455 UPC: 012236187455
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