Miller’s Girl
Rating – 1.5/4
**SPOILERS**
What is your relationship status?
Single?
Married?
Divorced?
“It’s Complicated?”
That last one best describes this movie: complicated. Is it an erotic thriller? Is it romantic? Is it dramatic? Pornographic? Is it every teen girls’ fantasy? I don’t know and I don’t think the movie does either.
Cairo Sweet (Jenna Ortega) is a gifted student who enrolls in a creative writing class taught by Jonathan Miller (Martin Freeman), a struggling author and an unhappily married man. Slowly, the two bond over their shared interests like poetry and writing and popular authors. And when a writing assignment turns erotic, their relationship becomes romantic.
But that’s it.
What is this movie trying to say? If it wants to be an erotic thriller, there’s nothing thrilling or erotic. There’s barely any sex or intimate scenes and it’s all foreplay and very little action. And where are the thrills? What’s at stake with a romance between Miller and Cairo? Not Miller’s marriage because it’s basically nonexistent with his uncaring wife and not Cairo’s education because she’s a genius and not sacrificing a promising career. And why do they hook up? What’s there for them to see in each other?
As for being a character study, while the actors portray them to the best of their ability, they don’t have much to examine. Cairo is smart and pretty and Miller is unhappy and uninspired. Don’t really see any chemistry. And I really don’t understand Cairo’s friend, Winnie. In every scene, she’s either horny or emotional and is what an adult imagines a teenager as, almost like a caricature.
It's not plot-driven nor character-driven and feels empty.
I will however, defend the age gap between Freeman and Ortega. Cairo’s character is eighteen and legally an adult and her and Miller’s relationship is entirely consensual. And relationships between students and teachers happen all the time, unfortunately, sometimes nonconsensual. But in this case, there’s nothing illegal about it. But this movie neither condemns nor romanticizes student-teacher relationships and leaves it hanging? I do agree that the premise turned a lot of people off and a student-teacher relationship can seem creepy, but it could’ve been interesting with more substance. But without it, the movie never explores the subject matter properly enough to present a clear message.
Clearly, this movie was meant to be a vehicle for Jenna Ortega, who shot to stardom with Stuck in the Middle, the Scream franchise, and Wednesday. And rightfully so, she’s a talented actress and it’s good she wants to explore other genres to avoid typecasting. But I don’t believe half-assed works would look good on anyone’s resumé.
You don’t need to take your clothes off to be a good actor.
In keeping with this movie’s themes, it’s appropriate to call it a tease. It teases us with something sexy and shocking, but then becomes just talk, which occasionally becomes ridiculous with what I call “porn dialogue” that makes it sound more like fanfiction by a thirteen-year-old. It’s not seductive, but cringeworthy and does make for some unintentional comedy. It teases us with two potentially interesting characters, but then gets tangled in the web that is student and teacher relationships. And it teases us with plot points that are written down, but never spoken clearly.
That tease is not enough to stimulate your interest in this movie.
Told you, it’s complicated.
