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Movie Review: “Girl Flu” Is A Charming Coming-Of-Age Comedy

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Bird, 12, has to become a woman whether she wants to or not when – in the worst week of her life – she gets her first period, is ditched by her impulsive, free-spirited mom, and learns that you can never really go back to The Valley.

Guys, you can leave now, this movie is not for you. But if you stay, I am sure you will enjoy this quirky coming-of-age story, despite the girly information overload guys spend a large quantity of time avoiding. Bird (Jade Pettyjohn “School of Rock) stars as a hormonal twelve-year-old starting her period. Her period shows up with a bang and white jeans, on the last day of school, in front of her whole class. Stop for a moment. Feel young Robin’s pain. Bad enough to find out you are going to be bleeding for five days a month for the next fifty years, but add the embarrassment of your entire class being witness to this quintessential event, and you have a teenage horror story on your hands.

To make matters worse, Robin’s irresponsible thirty-year-old mom never bothered to tell her about the coming puberty her daughter would endure. Jenny (Katee Sackhoff) is about the same mental age as her daughter. Sure, she has a job and a boyfriend, but she is living in her mother’s house because smoking pot is more important than acting like a mature responsible adult. Jenny’s mom is on an adventure in India to find herself, or more likely, to stay away from her daughter who is a little too heavy into a bottle of Jagermeister.

Robin does have some supportive people in her life. Her mother’s best friend Lilli (Heather Matarazzo) shows up to save the day, with keen advice on how to use tampons and pads, which she does in a no-nonsense manner. Neither Lilli nor Jenny’s boyfriend, Arlo (Jeremy Sisto), manage to help Jenny understand that Robin’s growing up is happening to Robin and not to Jenny. Selfish mommy proceeds to tell her daughter she isn’t ready to be a granny, while also bringing her daughter a bowl of ice cream and throwing a coming-of-age party where only Jenny’s friends are invited.

Poor Robin just wants to go home, back to the Valley where they lived a year ago before her mother couldn’t afford the rent anymore. The kids in their current Cali home are mean, well at least her classmate Rachel is hell-bent on making Robin’s life more miserable. Trust me, quirky Robin, usually called Bird or Little Bird, does not need help being miserable. She spends her days trying to get her mom to wake up and act like an adult and dressing up in bizarre clothing to gain attention. She also has her eye set on the cute boy who lives across the street who spends his days practicing skateboard tricks.

When the fighting and hormones become too much for both mother and daughter to bear, Jenny drops her double-digit daughter off at a safe baby firehouse before quickly changing her mind. Robin escapes, while the firemen decide to do with her, to take a taxi back to the Valley, where she quickly discovers her old home is not the right place for her anymore. Arlo rescues Robin and returns her home where the oddball family finally make a move in the right direction.

I cannot say enough good about this film. I laughed until it hurt. This feel-good comedy is just the type of movie that tweens have always needed and never had. Minus the pot and the drinking. But life is real, and these are real-world problems many tweens deal with. Let me tell you, some of the scenes will cause you to empathize more than you ever thought possible. From poor Bird waking up to blood all over her sheets, to learning to grocery shop, the agony of life comes through clearly in this movie. Not to mention the desire for mom’s to want to abandon their kids (briefly) when the hormones and the mouth come in full force.

Every aspect was well acted and the director has a knack for helping the audience find something to love and hate about every member of the cast. I wanted to hug and smack them all simultaneously. The mortification of womanhood is all too palpable and genuine with moody Robin and her immature mom. A few areas are disheartening. Why doesn’t Robin have a girlfriend her own age? Why does she have a fetish for dressing in odd combinations of her mom’s old clothes? Why is Arlo okay with such a selfish woman when he is so giving? Life, of course, doesn’t always provide answers, and many times people fail to understand their own reasons for their odd behaviors. Either way, this movie is fantastic and quirky in the best ways possible.

Available on VOD Friday, September 29th

 

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