Movie Review! No Bull With Raging Robert.
“Miller’s Girl” which runs a tad over an hour and a half is never boring; it is also not great, either. The premise of the story is a good one… a “Lolita” type of writing which never hits the fever nor the depth of the famous book.
The synopsis of the screen play is a young, precocious student, Cairo Sweet (Jenna Ortega) is a want-to-be Yale bound student who has a deep thirst for reading and writing. Cairo is labelled “the one” by her teacher Johnathan Miller (Martin Freeman). Miller is a one and done writer, his book was panned by the critics and he has never written since. He has been down sized from the theater department to the literature department in this small, Tennessee town.
Cairo wants for nothing, her absentee parents are both international lawyers and are infrequently home. She wants nothing more than to get out of her small town even though her home is massive and she has everything she needs right there. Her side kick Winnie Black (Gideon Aldon) is also a precocious young thing who has a penitent for girls as well as men. Her crush on Cairo goes nowhere, however. She is in lust with Mr.Miller and Winnie has a thing for physics teacher Boris Fillmore.
This Netflix movie does its usual racial casting which particularly weakens the movie. Bashir Salahuddin is not believable as a physics teacher, more believable as a gym teacher. He is a due-fess as a human and not passable as an intellect. Christine Adams as Joyce Manor the vice principal too is not that strong in this role. She falls short as an authoritarian figure when Miller is called on the carpet in regards to his relationship with Cairo.
The most talented of the cast is Dagmara Dominczyk as Miller’s wife. She is a successful writer in her own right and the clear bread winner. Up until a very good ending scene, we believe that the Miller’s are a happy couple. She knows all the right things to say and like Ortega, she is sexy and smart.
Written and directed by Jade Halley Bartlett (that is usually a mistake to take on both roles), the movie never goes deep enough; Bartlett only scratches the surface. This movie could have been so much more than it was. Instead, she never makes her move, and a “Wild Things” of a movie never develops. Just when we think Miller will make his move, he doesn’t! But why doesn’t he make his move? Is it fear that he can’t make it without his wife? Does he love his wife too much? Nope. We never are shown neither-nor. Why is Cairo so smitten with Miller? Why does Winnie like Mr. Fillmore so much? (especially when he looks like Fat Albert from the Cosby cartoon series).
“Miller’s Girl” is way to tame; the movie should have had some nudity/sex in it to be of any interest to a viewer who likes this genre. In the aforementioned book, “Lolita” and the movie, “Wild Things”, the sex brought the film together with the suspense that ensued. The ending there was eye popping; here it was a disappointing thud! Even the conversations between Miller and Fillmore, Cairo and Winnie are never titillating nor do they lend any insight as to where the movie is going or may go… more like idol chatter.
The best part, the most surprising part of the movie is when the Miller’s have it out. Here we find out his thoughts, but, the wife’s thoughts and feelings are a complete 180 degrees from how she was during the entire movie.
“Miller’s Girl” is worth watching for dialogue. It has some strong points, but unfortunately it has many weak ones as well.
No Bull With Raging Robert, “Miller’s Girl”, “The Blacklist”, “Ozark”, Netflix, Hulu, Prime, Amazon, The Oscars, The Tony Awards, Laura Linney, Hollywood, “Breaking Bad”
