ComedyFan2010
This movie makes an obvious "white privilege" statement. "White Girl" is both the brand of cocaine and the protagonist. Basically, white girls are dumb and naive. Their partying also destroys the lives of decent Latino drug dealers. If it wasn't for her he sure would be fine. And if it was a black girl she would never make any mistakes. Yes, SJWs I get your point.But luckily this obvious point just lets one roll our eyes and yet isn't pushed to hard so one can just watch the story.I don't think all the sex and drugs are supposed to shock the audience, they actually are supposed to look as part of everyday life that she chose which is can come off as dull for some. The movie goes by very fast though by showing all we need to see and not concentrating on character issues that are not part of the movie's present.The acting is great. I was very impressed by Morgan Saylor and Brian Marc who both let us understand the emotions of their characters without the movie introducing us to character depth. The supporting characters were also well done. Worth mentioning are Justin Bartha whom I didn't even recognize and Chris Noth whom I was exited to see, his facial performance is always perfect.The ending is great. I know that it is supposed to show her privilege as well, but it was a great idea of contrast.So all in all it was a decent movie worth watching.
Michael Jones
Thematically, White Girl is exactly what it says on the tin, it's about race, and about gender. It's an attempt at outlining the main character's naivety and her ability to come out of it unscathed as a result of her privilege. An idea that, if it wasn't already obvious enough, Elizabeth Wood beats us over the head with in the scene where Leah has dinner with the lawyer.White Girl is unapologetically feminist, and being directed by a woman, it gets a lot of this right, Leah isn't a trope, she's not a stereotype, she's a naive young girl who makes a lot of really, really terrible decisions. But while this is the basis of her character, the protagonist, as well as the rest of the people in this film, are only explored on a surface level. Meaning that it's difficult to care about what they do, or what happens to them. Especially Leah, who knows that as a pretty white girl, there's a lot that she can get away with, and come out unharmed. And we know that too.Not only is White Girl difficult to get pulled in to as a result of its lack of a real sense of consequence, it also seems to push us away with its sloppy attempt at shock cinema. Every other scene is someone snorting coke, getting their tits out, or puking their guts up (is there anyone in this movie who doesn't do drugs?) Some of the comments on sexuality, especially female sexuality are interesting, and there's clearly a lot to say here about the male gaze and the danger of that towards young women, but then the gratuitous sex scenes never stop in an attempt to shock us, and we lose interest.As a drug dealer drama, and a comment on race, Wood hits all of the tropes that we'd expect. Many of the characters are stereotypes, and the writing for the male drug dealers sounds like it was written by my dad, guessing how he things a drug dealer probably talks. The attempts at making the love interest more of a love interest and less of a sex interest were hilarious at times, this movie just couldn't get the dialogue right for those characters at all, it was awkward as hell.White Girl was summed up for me when Doug from The Hangover got cocaine snorted off his dick.4.5/10
Boristhemoggy
Firstly, I love this movie and I laughed at another review where someone said the characters were awful and he hated them so he voted it a 1 star. My take is that the lead character was awful, and stupid, and foolhardy, and not a little seedy. But that's because Morgan Saylor worked so very hard to bring that character to life. She reminded me of a young Michelle Williams: totally lacking self- consciousness and totally absorbed into the role. The story of course is sleazy and sordid, and the characters are all making poor decisions and have values that don't match wider society's. But that's the whole point, it's telling again the story of young teens growing up in this drug ridden world and how easy it is to sink lower and lower into depravity in your quest for the next high. There is of course racial undertones right through the movie and the end point is massively telling. America will probably never be rid of racism and probably never rid of drugs either...the world never changes. Brilliant watch, great story, fantastic directing and beautiful acting. I loved this film.
