I have worked at a school for twenty years or so so I am always interested in films set at schools because of how the directors set them or the writer writes them. In the case of Miller’s Girl the writer and director are the same. Her name is Jade Halley Bartlett and her film is quite the educational experience.  That’s putting it mildly. 

Mr. Miller (Martin Freeman) is an English teacher at a Tennessee high school. He was once an author but is slumming it as a teacher. At the beginning of the school, he gets a student who impresses him by having read his entire summer reading list. Cairo Sweet (Jenna Ortega) isn’t your average teenager. She’s quite advanced in her intelligence level. These two hit it off right away. You’d say they were kindred spirits. 

Ortega’s character is quite the spitfire. She and her friend Winnie (Gideon Adlon) are very popular at school. They turn heads and attract a lot of attention from the people they aren’t supposed to attract. The problem is these two take a lot of pride in turning the heads of their teachers. Some of them have wives at home. They dress in a very scantily clad way and talk just as dirty but in an intelligent way. They are like the queen Bees of this prep school.

The writer/director has written an interesting story. She supposes that high school girls are like this today. I would say they are a little like this but she gives these girls too much credit. I’ve been around a lot of high school kids from my days of coaching football and basketball. Kids aren’t trying to seduce teachers with their writing assignments. They are just trying to get decent grades, interact with boys, and get through school so they can go to college or get on with their lives. This film gives teen girls way too much credit. The movies like to do stuff like this but this type of behavior rarely happens.

This movie is set in rural Tennessee but Martin Freeman seems to be the only one with a Southern accent besides his wife played by Dagmara Dominczyk from Succession fame. There is even a coach in the movie that doesn’t seem to have a Southern accent either. If your film is set in the South the characters should sound like they are from the South. Ortega and Adlon don’t even try speaking with a Southern accent. I know they are supposed to be smart but they should sound like where they are from.

The Accents are a minor quibble though. There is a dream sequence that depicts a story that the Ortega character wrote and it has a feeling like a telenovela. The wind is blowing Otega’s hair, and she’s wearing a nice expensive gown and she makes out with the teacher in her story. This is completely off base from the rest of the film. It’s almost laughable at how ridiculous this sequence was. I think the narration of Ortega’s character reading the story based on the works of Arthur Miller would have been a better fit.

Jenna Ortega has been doing some good work lately in Wednesday and the Scream franchise. I’m glad to see her trying to branch out with other roles. I just don’t think this character was the right fit for her. We already know she’s a good actress. The dialogue she has is supposed to make her extra intelligent. I feel this was a little overkill. She uses all these big words and high school kids no matter how smart they are wouldn’t use these types of words. I’m sure Ortega’s newer work in Beetlejuice 2 and Wednesday Season 2 will be better than this film.

Miller’s Girl is a movie that has everything it should have to succeed. It has an interesting premise, good cinematography, and stars that the studio, Lionsgate can market the film around. The problem is the premise is overblown to the point of not being realistic. The actors are giving performances that are believable given the situation they’re in. The screenplay gives way too much credit to teenagers as far as they are supposed to be smarter than their teachers. Kids aren’t that smart even when they are smart. Kids aren’t interested in having relationships with their teachers that much. Yes, it happens from time to time. This takes this concept to an unrealistic level. Unfortunately, this movie isn’t able to pit these pieces together to make a believable story for me.

2 stars

Dan Skip Allen