Spoilers Ahead
Sierra Burgess is a Big Loser was released September 7th, 2018. The Netflix original is about Sierra Burgess, played by Shannon Purser, who accidentally catfishes a very cute football player named Jamey, played by Noah Centineo, who goes to a different school. The film touches bases with insecurities, social status, sexuality, and being yourself. This rom-com is perfect for anyone who is having trouble with any of these issues.
Shannon Purser is best known for her role as ‘Barb’ from another Netflix original, Stranger Things. This end a Barb started a frenzy on social media with her unfortunate death on the show. The hashtag ‘#justiceforbarb’ trended on Twitter for weeks. She also landed a role of The CW’s Riverdale and a mini-series called Rise. Her amazing talent is what landed her all of these roles. Her hard worked and talent proved worthy when she was nominated for outstanding guest actress in a drama series.
Sierra Burgess is a straight-A student trying to work on her college application. While doing so, she is trying to find herself and what makes her stand out. Veronica, played by Kristine Froseth, is the stereotypical mean girl who bullies Sierra. Jamey meets Veronica in a diner and tries to get her number. Veronica plays along into making Jamey think he is given her actual number, but in reality, he is being given Sierra’s number. Jamey eventually texts Sierra. Sierra plays along. She knows that Jamey thinks she is someone else but does not know for a few days. Once she finally knows, and things start to heat up with Jamey, she uses Veronica after figuring out she is having trouble with a guy and uses that to her advantage. Sierra starts tutoring Veronica to make her seem smarter so she can impress her college crush, Spence.
As Sierra and Veronica team up, events happen that lead them to understand more about each other. Veronica doesn’t have the best relationship with her mother and siblings, while Sierra is trying to live up to the expectations of her parents. Jamey continues to believe that he is talking with the real Veronica and asks her on a date. Sierra convinces Veronica to go to the movies with Jamey. After the movie, Jamey offers to drive Veronica home. As they are standing in the parking lot talking outside Jamey’s car, Sierra sneaks up and hides underneath the car. With Veronica’s help, Sierra ends up kissing Jamey (without him knowing). Sierra and Veronica are a real dream team until a night of drinking, teenage hormones, and deceit. Sierra gets dragged away from Veronica by boys to get her to drink. Sierra starts coming out of her comfort zone and starts having fun at her first party. While Sierra is off having fun, Veronica is approached by Spence who is wanting to get back together. Veronica doesn’t want to leave Sierra by herself, but Spence convinces her to come back to his car. Spence ends up using her and dumps her that night.
Veronica was distraught, but life has to go on. Before a football game between Sierra and Jamey’s schools, Veronica played along with her and Jamey’s relationship and ends up kissing Jamey as Sierra watched. Sierra gets upset and sabotages Veronica during the game. Jamey ends up injured because of that and then finds out about Sierra and Veronica. As things go bad, Sierra has a meltdown and confesses to her parents that looking like her is hard especially at this time. Sierra deletes Jamey’s number and tries to find herself through music. She writes a song called ‘Sunflower’, which she shares with Veronica. Veronica shares the song with Jamey and convinces him to take Sierra to homecoming. He shows up at her house and confesses that she is the perfect girl for him and they all lived happily ever after.
This very cliche film had some very important messages. Throughout the film, Sierra faces bulling with confidence and never backing down. Bullying is still a huge topic in today’s society and we all are still working on ways to stop it. Being accepting of yourself is a key to defeating a bully. As this film shows, no one is perfect and faces their own sort of bullies and inner turmoil. Veronica faces trouble at home with her mother’s denial of her father leaving her mother. This type of behavior from her mother reflects on her to try and be perfect. She is never enough from her mother’s eyes. This is still no excuse for bullying, but Veronica soon finds out that you can’t judge a book by its cover. Sierra learned to embrace herself and to know that she is good enough for anyone. It’s okay to not know who you are. But, don’t lose yourself along the way of trying to find yourself.