Ever since the trailer for Sierra Burgess is a Loser came out, we’ve been excited for it. Shannon Purser and Noah Centineo in a movie? Sign us up. After To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before was released in August, we were even more excited for it because Netflix was upping its young adult movie game. After watching the movie, we didn’t feel excited anymore, we just felt let down. From disability mocking to unbelievable characters, here are 10 reasons why we didn’t like Sierra Burgess is a Loser.
1. Sierra is the worst
Sierra didn’t have any redeeming qualities. The whole movie she lied, manipulated, and hurt every other character and faced no consequences for her actions. Come on, who posts their friend’s breakup DMs for the whole school to see?!
2. Faking deafness
This was a hard scene to look past. Sierra fakes being deaf so she won’t have to talk to Jamey, but it turns out that Jamey’s little brother is deaf so he knows sign language. This plot is used as comedy, but in reality, it is just hurtful to deaf people.
3. Queer baiting & Queer bashing
Were we the only ones who thought Veronica and Sierra’s relationship was cuter than Jamey and Sierra’s? Also, throughout the movie they kept making lesbian comments about Sierra, as if being a lesbian is a punchline.
4. Veronica deserved better
Veronica grew so much as a character throughout this movie! She goes from a mean girl to a thoughtful, confident person. She was the most dynamic character in the whole film, and she deserved better!
5. Jamey deserved better
Jamey seemed like a sweet man, but Sierra just lies and manipulates him the whole time. He deserved someone who didn’t lie to him.
6. Shannon Purser deserved better
Shannon Purser is such a fantastic actress and advocate! We loved seeing her in a starring role, but we just wish it was a better character.
7. Catfishing plot line
Why couldn’t we have a movie where a plus sized woman finds love organically? Why did she have to catfish Jamey in order to get him to fall for her? What was up with Jamey’s line, “I wouldn’t have noticed you, but you’re exactly my type”? That’s contradictory. This plot would have been stronger if we just got to unapologetically see a love story with a plus sized woman.
8. No consent kissing
The first time Sierra and Jamey kissed had us saying “woah, woah, woah!” This was not okay by any means. Consent is such a hotly debated topic and yet this movie completely ignores the need for Jamey’s consent.
9. Sierra is mean to Veronica, who is her friend
Jamey kisses Veronica (who he thinks is Sierra) and then Sierra takes it out on Veronica? She doesn’t even talk to Veronica about it first! She just hacks into her Instagram account and posts her painful breakup dms for the whole football stadium to see. Veronica deserved better.
10. Veronica got Jamey back for Sierra so Sierra never had to face her actions
One of the best parts of movies are when the protagonist has to pick themselves up from rock bottom and persist. We never got that in this movie. Sierra sends a lame apology to Jamey and writes a song, but never actually proactively takes steps to fix her situation. The only reason she got Jamey back was because Veronica is such a good friend. That was not Veronica’s job and we would have liked the movie better if Sierra was held accountable.
This coming of age/teen rom-com let us down big time. We’ll just have to watch To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before for the tenth time to forget about it.