Due to some mean girl mischief, Jamey (a still-swoon worthy Noah Centineo of To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before), a cute football player from the high school across town gets outcast Sierra Burgess’s phone number and mistakenly thinks he’s texting mean girl Veronica. In this multilayered tech-savvy take on Cyrano de Bergerac, Sierra falls for Jamey quickly and he for her, and Sierra decides to keep up the charade out of fear that she’ll lose him. Sierra quickly ropes Veronica into her scheme in exchange for tutoring, so that Veronica can “act smart” to woo back her college aged ex. It doesn’t take long for the lies to start building up and for everyone to start questioning who they really are and who they’re meant to be with. When Sierra Burgess is a Loser was pitched, the clear selling point was internet darling Shannon Purser, AKA Barb from Stranger Things. No one could have known that the summer of 2018 would bring back the romcom and that To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before would vault the leading man of both movies, Noah Centineo, into a committed relationship as the internet’s boyfriend. It’s hard to watch the decent Sierra Burgess without this in mind, and without comparing it to the rightfully viral To All the Boys. To that end, Noah Centineo’s Jamey is a more introspective love interest than Peter Kovinsky, but much less of a co-lead. He’s not in on Sierra’s secret, and the nature of the plot means they can’t share screen time for much of the movie. Still, the phone call montages are sweet and stir that familiar ache of butterflies and new love that a movie like this is meant to. A better title for this movie might be Sierra Burgess is a Liar. As the lies stack up and become increasingly hurtful and downright unnecessary, it gets harder to see the protagonist as the kind, put-upon heroine, excluded out of mere cruelty. Instead, she pulls a full-on Cady Heron and becomes a mean girl herself, doing senselessly cruel things to practically everyone in her life, including her best friend (an underused RJ Cyler, I’m Dying Up Here), love interest, and new friend. Viewers might find this a tough pill to swallow, and it’s this element, more than any of the other story issues, that keep it from threatening the dominance of To All The Boys. Unlike in Mean Girls, reckoning with one’s own inner bully is not a theme of this movie, and Sierra is largely let off the hook for her actions. She spends some time on ice and makes a decent apology to Jamey, which also showcases Shannon Purser’s lovely singing ability. Much like Sierra Burgess herself, the movie seems inclined to consider Sierra’s acting out as a result of the prior bullying, instead of holding her accountable for her actions and taking to heart its own message about the trials everyone goes through, even if they’re not always visible. Sierra Burgess has a few elements strongly in its favor, like performances from the leads, a charming song, and the genuine warmth between Sierra and the other two leads amidst all the hijinks. It has some interesting things to say about what it means to be a high schooler right now, which is more than can be said for most teen fare. Ultimately, though, the script sidelines promising roles from Sierra’s parents and her best friend and pushes well past what the premise initially asks the audience to forgive into extreme territory. It’s not a bad diversion if you’re so inclined, but when the story of the Great Summer of Romcoms is told, Sierra Burgess is a Loser will be but a mere mention, notable for its timing and Centineo’s presence and little else.
