Review of the movie "Sierra Burgess is a Loser"! For me, this movie get 4 stars out of 5!

I watched this romcom a couple days ago. Soooo,,, let me tell you guys a little bit of this movie ^3^

[Film Poster]

First, introducing the main characters in the movie; they are Jamey, Sierra, Veronica and Dan.

Jamey's character is played by Noah Centineo. Jamey is kind and he teaches us not all man is crazy about the appearance when it comes to liking someone. Of course, he’s really shock by what Sierra and Veronica did. Still, at the end, he confesses to Sierra telling her she is his type even though she might not be the type that most guys will like. He just likes how witty and intelligent Sierra is.

Photo via Instagram. Credit to interiordobrasil

Anyone will be angry if they have been catfishing. In Jamey’s situation, he’s angry because he thought he knows exactly who he’s texting and calling with. He’s angry because Sierra lies to him and even conspired with Veronica for that.

After Jamey knew the truth, Sierra write a song that contain her messages for him. I love the poetic lyrics and Shannon's voice. This song sure is a total giveaway :D

[Official lyric video for Sunflower, performed by Shannon Purser in Sierra Burgess is a Loser, released by official Netflix Youtube channel]

[stripped down acoustic version, released by the Youtube channel; Lyric Shades]

Back to Jamey, what I got in my mind when I first saw the trailer is I thought his character is one that plays with girls’ heart and broke them. I thought he played a bad character in this movie at first seeing how he smiles broadly like a really naughty guy after he manage to get Veronica’s number. Don’t blame me for how I think; he really has the look to act as a player character!

Credit to Netflix

He also does not choose who he talk to based on their appearance. This is shown even at early of the story. We could see the friends that he’s hanging out with are just some ordinary teenager. Even though he’s a footballer, he’s not the type that just wants to hang out with cool kids. Maybe this is why Veronica said he’s a loser at first looking at who his friends are. That’s the reason too why she gave Jamey Sierra’s phone number instead of hers.  “Losers should hang out with losers.” That’s what Veronica said and how this whole story start.

Next, Sierra's character is played by Shannon Purser. Sierra certainly is a witty person to text to and that’s the reason why Jamey fall for her. She doesn’t hold prejudice toward people. This is shown when Veronica said Jamey is just the same like other guys she knows who would only want to see nude, but Sierra defends Jamey. The reason Veronica saying so is she might only get to know bad guys at that point of her life that time.

Sierra has low self-esteem. She asked for Veronica’s help to pretend to be her for she is scared she might lose Jamey if the truth is out. Main reason is because of how insecure she is for she looks like with her plus size body. However, Sierra is at fault too for her low self-esteem. One should never overlook their own beauty. To know how to feel beautiful in our own skin is an act of self-loving. We can’t blame Sierra too much since it’s during teenager we’re learning how to be a better us, get to know and love ourselves.  

Besides that, she feels overwhelming by her great parents. Proud for having a famous father and a gorgeous mom, but that also make her feel burdened for how she should be as their only daughter.

Nevertheless, I’m impressed by the effort she put in to keep Jamey on the line with her. For that, she strives to get the help from Veronica by trying to exchange favor for their respective goals.  Sierra’s courage is absolutely something that needs to be praised for. You see, Veronica can always just rejects her right away on the face, or worse humiliate her for what she asking. But Sierra tried anyway to get the help she want and she get it.

Looking from other perspectives, I have to admit that Sierra’s intelligent side is being portrayed rather flat throughout the story. Maybe this is what the story writer wants purposely. This story is showing that she is intelligent by how many books she must has read when she’s tutoring Veronica and those straight A’s that she gets for her grade. The intelligent quality is flat in her that even her teacher that helps her to take a look in her resume demands her to have a stand out performance that she can put in her resume if she really plan to go to college.

Not like a usual movie, I personally like this part when Sierra stays as her till the end. Since in some movies there’re tend to have the cliché plot where the fat girl work really hard to slim down themselves to become hot for their crush. To be honest, I do anticipate seeing if the cliché plot will happen in this movie, but I’m happy it didn’t. It makes this movie even better. Movie like this convey the messages that beauty is vary and you can be fat but still pretty.

Veronica's character is played by Kristine Froseth. Veronica is a dynamic character. I love how this character changes over unfold of the storyline. She begins to treat Sierra nicely as she slowly gets to know Sierra better in person. She changes from treating Sierra as a loser to think that Sierra is actually a quite good person to befriend with.

Last but not least, Dan is played by RJ Cyler. He is a character that can easily get overlooked and let the spotlight be shed on other main characters only. He is Sierra’s sidekick. Though not really a stand out character, he’s certainly a warm existence for Sierra. It proves that people don’t need to be popular or have a lot of friends to feel a sense of belonging. One true and loyal friend that’ll always be there for you is more than enough. No more words, I just like how Dan has always been there for Sierra. We also need to say thanks to Dan for it’s him that insists that he and Sierre should say hi to Jamey when they coincidentally saw him at outside with his little brother.

Overall, this is a sweet and simple but fun to watch movie. Because of the background music they play when Jamey and Sierra is texting, it makes me feel thrilling watching it and curious how it will end.

This sweet love story turns even sweeter if you are fans of Noah Centineo. I become his fans after watching this movie. I love his wide broad smile and the kind character he plays in this film. Off-screen, he’s an even sweeter guy.

One thing I wish from this movie is Sierra to tell Jamey earlier about the truth. As early as when Jamey tells her that he thought he’s texting Veronica. If she thought she can’t tell who she really is, can’t she  at least tell that she is not Veronica? I don’t know but, maybe it’s really scary to reveal the truth. If she can’t tell it then, I wish she told Jamey on the night that supposed to be their first date. Since she did saw how genuine Jamey as a person is after she met him the first time for real when he still didn’t know her identity yet. He’s not only being good to Sierra on the phone because he thought she’s Veronica, but he’s one and the same as how he is on the phone when he talk nicely to Sierra too on their first met.  They even have a moment together when they were shaking each other hand.

Beside than the love story between Jamey and Sierra, I love how Veronica and Sierra’s friendship sprouting while they try to help each other out.  Again, what makes this story being different from most stories (that I watched) is a bitchy character like Veronica’s usually stay bitchy till the end of the story, but not in this one. This story is teaching us to not be stereotype and I’m surprise in good way looking at how Veronica’s character evolves.

To Noah Centineo, he said, important messages that this story is conveying are:

"Don’t let society dictate what beauty is."

And what I feel too, that is, we shouldn’t stereotype toward people.

"Where the bully, Veronica and Sierra they kinda get together and they’re enemies at first, but then they become really good friends, and that’s through  understanding each other."

 "Someone can be your enemy, but you can’t really judge someone until you know who they are, why they are the way they are, it’s kind of hard to not like someone when you understand them."

Here's the video where he said so himself ;)