The tragedy of a terrible movie like this is that there was actually an interesting, complex, compelling story buried under all the bad acting and bad writing. I like Kunis but she doesn't have the dramatic chops to play a role like this that requires the lead to make an unlikable character compelling. This movie needed an actor like Jessica Chastain who has made this sort of role her bread and butter lately. Plus a FAR better script.
:heart: x6
This felt like your average Lifetime movie mixing together 2 bad things, a school shooting and rape. There really isnt anythihng special here, yet it is watchable.
How I rate:
1-3 :heart: = seriously! don't waste your time
4-6 :heart: = you may or may not enjoy this
7-8 :heart: = I expect you will like this too
9-10 :heart: = movies and TV shows I really love!
I totally didn't know anything about the movie, I watched it bc i saw a scene with the knives from the beginning of the movie and I had to watch it. 2 hours went by so quickly, the amount of times when I was fidgeting afraid sth's bad gonna happen for Ani was uncountable pretty much. To the end I wondered if she really does feel relief or not, I just hope she can be truly happy.
For those who think she's a bad person and the movie didn't show any growth and any redeemable qualities in Ani....... I think you skipped the last 30 minutes or so. She doesn't need any redeemable characteristics. The whole movie is like her seeing, understanding the fakeness of everything, this is a therapy movie. The growth couldn't be any clearer. I just wished the other two weren't alive to see this and that at the end we didn't see any backlash at Dean or a smile from the teacher guy.
Oh boy this is really gonna piss off all the preppy rapists of society, I forecast many downvotes and hate posts.
I like Mila Kunis, but this is a terrible movie. I empathize for why the main character is a terrible person, but she has no redeeming qualities. And, there is no character arc or growth; she's a terrible person at the start, and an equally terrible person at the end.
I don't understand why a movie like this was even made. It's not liberating, or empowering, much less entertaining.
I'm very confused by all these comments referring to Mila Kunis' character as "unlikable" and a "terrible person"? Did we watch the same movie? I don't think the intention was for Mila's character to be terrible or unlikable. Wrongfully judged? Sure. Misunderstood? Absolutely. But unlikable? Nah.
In my opinion, this is a somewhat realistic portrayal of trauma survivors. Often, we don't truly understand why people act or react the way they do, until we delve deeper into their experiences. Sometimes, there is a haunting aura that surrounds trauma survivors. You can sense it. It's almost tangible. However, there are a lot of survivors who are experts at surpressing their pain. They've been shaped that way. It's necessary for their emotional survival. This movie touched on that.
Not all trauma survivors are engulfed by an obvious haunting aura. But the memories never leave. The memories tend to surface, even if just for a second. There are scenes where you catch a glimpse of that ugly beast rearing its head. For example, in an intimate scene where the lead's fiance comments on her aggressive tendencies in the bedroom. That is a psychologically common practice for assault survivors. They will often 'overcompensate', for lack of a better word. Their aggression is an attempt to regain control... control that they once lost in a previous encounter. They may be overtly aggressive to avoid being in another compromising position where they lose their power. It's as if every time they engage in intamacy, it's now on their terms, where they compete for power rather than just relinquish it. The scene where the younger lead character apologizes to the boy who assaulted her. That is another common psychological practice for survivors. They try to rationalize their abuser's action. It helps survivors feel like they weren't dehumanized. Instead, they chalk it up to a mistake or unclear communication. Maybe they didn't mean to hurt me? Was it a mistake? Also, what if no one believes me? Maybe it's safer to stay quiet and internalize it. I really appreciated those little subleties in the script.
I feel this movie was greatly misunderstood. It was a rollercoaster of emotions. I enjoyed it.
I dont understand the negative ratings... its quite a good film
This harrowing drama isn't as obvious as it first appears. The film is actually quite intriguing with some surprising moments scattered throughout its (slighly) overlong running time,
I needed to let that movie sink in. I went into it only knowing a very basic premise and that Mila Kunis is apparently giving a career best performance.
The movie tackles not one, but two extremely diffcult topics. It deals with rape and a school shooting. So, if those topics are triggering to to you, do not watch it. Do not continue with this review.
Kunis does in fact give a great performance as a woman traumatized by her past who has never really confronted her trauma and tried to push it away. Her character, Ani, is a writer for a women's magazine (writing about sex and man's pleasure nonetheless), engaged to rich and successful Luke (a great Finn Wittrock) and seemingly has build a great life for herself.
What is known to public is that she is the survivor of a school shooting and that fellow survivor Dean (Alex Barone) accuses her of being an accomplice rather than a victim. What nobody knows, because the story got twisted through the years is, that Ani was raped by Dean and his friends, Ani's High School boyfriend Liam (Isaac Kragten) among them, when she was a teenager.
Kunis does indeed a great job here. It's a break from her usual comfortable (even though great) comedic performances and she is allowed to show off some acting chops here. Ani is abrasive and hollow and created a personality that pleases people around her. She is a chameleon that can adapt to any situation to seem as "fine" as possible. She is not always a likeable character and she doesn't have to be. Would I call it a career best performance, I don't know. Most the heavy lifting is done by Cruel Summer's Chiara Aurelia who portrays a younger Ani, or Tiffany as she was known back then. Aurelia already showed in Cruel Summer that she is a great young actress and shines here as well, portraying a confused and scared girl, overwhelmed with a terrible situation and not able to deal with her trauma.
When a documentary film maker approaches Ani about an interview showcasing her point of view on the shooting, a downward spiral starts that pushes Ani to confront feelings she has buried a long time ago. Haunting flashbacks cue the viewer in on what really happened.
I admit, at first I was sure the movie would provide a twist ending. It toyed very early on (and very on the nose) with the concept of an unreliable narrator and I was almost certain that the movie would reveal Ani as an accomplice in the last couple of minutes (which would explain the sometimes grading voice over which could get slightly annoying). Half way through I was hoping to be wrong, because Ani being involved in planing a shooting wouldn't have done real survivors any good and would've felt exploitative and tasteless. Thankfully I was wrong and the twist never came. The movie works simply as an encouragement to speak up, that your trauma is valid and that no one can tell you how to feel about it. And that a lot of peope are simply trash and don't deserve to be protected, even if they went through terrible experiences as well.
The movie constantly walks a fine and sensitive line and tries to deal with both topics in a respectful way. Ani chooses to be called a victim instead of a survivor, because she had been denied to be one for so many years.
It also doesn't shy away from making sure the audience knows that the shooters have initially been victims of excessive bullying, but it doesn't excuse their behavior and choices with it. Instead of excusing what they did or blaming it on mental health (something the media loves to do) it shows it as a clear act of inexcusable revenge porn that's not justified, no matter through how much pain they went. Ani's choice not to engage in the horrible act, despite being traumatized and hurt by her fellow students actions and living on to turn her pain into something that can actively help other victims, is the direct flip side to it.
It's not an easy movie to watch and sometimes stays too much on the surface when it could have landed a deep dive, but for the complexity and sensitivity of the subject matter it does a fine job.
Not sure why the rotten tomates ratings are terrible or why some people hate this. I realy liked it. It depicted the toxic way people often deal with rape vitims in a painfully realistic way. Great fashion sense. I thought Mila Kunis did a great job. Definitely can be triggering for some people but I think that like Promising Young Woman, young adults should really watch this.
So everyone is complaining about explicit rape scenes than come without a warning but what about those victims? They were alson assaulted without a warning so yeah, this is raw, this is real-life
A really boring movie. The acting was so awful, this should've been on that Lifetime channel instead of Netflix. Lastly, Mila looks so old now. Yikes.
Even if it felt like it could be better in some parts,it was a well made movie with something to say and with good perfomances. 6.7/10
Scoot McNairy needs a new agent
this should have come with a trigger warning in the description.
Stop making movies where Chiara is naughty and gets hurt
it's not half bad! That one magical dress switch tho.
It is not "13 Reasons Why", but it does the job, showing a topic that is often overlooked.
The two female leads bring interesting, layered characters to life. The actress playing Young Ani is excellent. Ani's dialogue felt very real and draws you in. Worth watching and I'd watch again one day.
Upsetting that they filmed a r*pe scene like this. It is unnecessarily graphic and too long. An assault scene does not have to be portrayed in an explicit manner to be palpable to its audience. Generally speaking, I agree with the other reviews. Luckiest Girl Alive should have been a mini series. Its story is intriguing, but there is too much plot which ultimately makes you feel like this film is trying to cover too many genres. The message it tries to sell is what redeems it in the end.
netflix doesn't give much except the brief warning in the corner, so a heads up: there are graphic depictions of rape.
i'll be honest, i watched this for finn wittrock with zero idea what it was about. it's emotionally exhausting and i'll never watch it again, that's for sure. but it's good, and having watched plenty of garbage acting just because i don’t respect my time for shit, i think the acting in this movie was solid. the moment in the car when connie britton's character tells ani that she disgusts her was the hardest one, probably because i've lived it. chiara aurelia was the standout for me. finn wittrock also managed a fairly nuanced line between good human being with love and compassion and self-absorbed person incapable of fathoming what it's like to be a victim of sexual assault.
I found it compelling, raw and triggering. It was hard to watch and hard to look away. The layers needed for the role was beautifully portrayed by Mila Kunis.
I imagine the hardest thing people will need to get over is “what? The cute girl from that 70’s show??? She can’t pull off that role…”
It felt long and slow at times, but it was a “good long and slow”. I thought Kunis was great throughout. Strong, scared, vulnerable and finally came into her own at the end.
Totally not on my radar until it appears on Netflix. Mika Kunis as well? Sign me up. It’s a very quality film, with a good message, yet could have been sooooo much better. Some of the more topical points feel forcefully told, opposed to shown (if that makes sense). Very much worth watching, and I’m sure some will really connect with it. Personally, I am more of a fan of The Fallout that came out just earlier this year on HBO.
Rating: 2.5/5 - 7/10 - Worth Watching
Starts off pretty slow but gets very interesting . I really enjoyed this film
Shout by AcoucalanchaVIP 4BlockedParent2022-10-09T17:45:54Z
A crime drama about compelling and topical subjects such as rape and guilt. It's quite hard to watch in certain scenes and they really delve into the aftermath of being a victim of rape (also some school shootouts). Mila Kunis did a great job and it was nice seeing Connie Britton. The movie feels overlong but I have to say every scene was necessary to get the characters where they need to be. This would of been better as a mini series I think the pacing was just kinda off and everything is jam-packed.