With Netflix in its death throes and suffering a veritable drought of overall acceptable content, “Tall Girl,” directed by Nzingha Stewart (“Pretty Little Liars”), offers an ominous but entertaining glimpse into the future. 

A teen rom-com starring teen rom-com actors, with Ava Michelle (“Dance Moms”) in the lead as Jodi and Griffin Gluck (“American Vandal”) as supporting love interest Dunkleman, the movie does its best to check off pretty much every cliché in the teen rom-com book. However, this by itself is not what makes the film noteworthy. No, what makes this film the spectacle it is comes from the fact that it is quite possibly the most ludicrous film of its genre to come out in the last 10 years. 

Let us begin with the premise. Generally, these films star a teen with some kind problem that alienates them from the “it” crowd. What is Jodi’s problem? Does she have a disability? Is she just the new kid? No. Jodi is tall. That is it. And yes, the movie is called “Tall Girl,” but she is not even super tall, she is 6‘1.’ Sure, a bit taller than average for a girl, but the movie takes that concept and just runs with it. So Jodi, an otherwise healthy, social, intelligent, talented, upper-middle class white girl, is completely, completely, ostracized by the whole school for being slightly taller than average. However, even though this movie is not good, it is so committed to the idea that being a slightly tall girl in high school is a social death sentence that it sort of swings back around to being kind of amazing. It is really bad, but also, please watch it. Because if you think they will stop talking about how tall Jodi is, if you think there will not be a scene where it is not a central plot point, even in scenes where it would not make sense to be and if you think they did not hire the shortest possible costars for Jodi to tower over like a colossus, you are tragically wrong. 

This movie feels like a fake movie in the background of a television show, except it is a real movie in the real world and we as a society have to deal with it. There is something to be said for the actress playing Jodi’s sister Harper, Sabrina Carpenter (“Girl Meets World”), who’s character is legitimately funny in every scene she is in, but it makes the movie feel even more bizarre. 

This movie is somehow totally cliché, completely insane and all around just a trip. Please watch it. Find some friends, make an evening of it. There are so many moments and quotes that feel like they were pulled randomly out of a hat and it is a testament to the state of humanity in the modern day, and everyone needs to experience it. It is two out of five stars, actual quality, four out of five stars, acid trip quality. 

Image from Netflix via YouTube