Odd Girl Out (2005)

Teenage high school student Vanessa is friends with Stacey but when Vanessa asks out a boy Stacey has her eye on the friendship ends . Worse it leads to a bullying campaign where Stacey and her friends makes Vanessa's life an absolute living hell that drives Vanessa to the brink of suicide To a degree this is a fairly effective TVM centering around the misery that bullying brings and you really do feel sympathy for Vanessa's plight as she finds herself friendless as Stacey and her gang turn on her . There is a slight problem and that is director Tom Mcloughlin more interested in adopting an MTV directing style rather than developing the story more There's another slight fly in the ointment and that's the climax where Vanessa and Stacey make their peace only for Vanessa to realise Stacey is not to be trusted . Considering everything Vanessa has gone through is it likely that anyone would want to befriend Stacey again after all she's done . It's not helped by the cheesy scene Vanessa's mom mouthing " I'm so proud of you " Having said that it's a TVM made for a certain market and if the production team made it a bit more gritty then the audience might have found it too heavy to watch and the positive comments on this page indicates that ODD GIRL OUT has succeeded in showing what a terrible thing bullying is

I think they should have dedicated the movie for "all the stupid teens" where you're not stupid because you're teen, only a teen as long as you're stupid. Thus that girl got to discover the fakeness of what was around here, then be brave to face it, get rid of it and move along; so she can grow up and stop being dumb anymore.I loved dealing seriously with a subject that many may consider plain or usual. This sadistic relationships do exist in the adolescents' community. And the movie's biggest victory is portraying "The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls" as the title of the book which the movie was based on. However, what I didn't like at all is that the character of the lead wasn't dumb only, she was so dumb!There was a bit too far exaggeration while showing the lead's naivety; specially her strange ability to believe everything was said to her (to have us commenting all the time "she brought it to herself" !). Well, frankly any girl that got an absolute trust in the one who hurt her the most over and over again is someone deserves all what happens to her ! I felt, for instance at the party scheme, that whether this girl is a masochistic character or the dumbest ever! This point weakened the drama and turned the viewer off, as we were watching very odd girl more than odd girl out !True that the flare-up scene was a perfect climax. But I was having a flare-up of my own over the lead's behaviors up to this event. It was a smart movie, but this characterization permitted a proportion of superfluous melodrama that hit it badly. Adolescent move if you asked me.

On a scale of 1-10, I give this movie a 7. I can't say I enjoyed the film, because this is not a film that you "enjoy". You DO like the movie, but there are times in the movie that make you feel disturbed, depressed, and even nauseous, because of some of the things that Vanessa (Alexa Vega's character) had to go through.I've always liked Alexa Vega (notice how I said "like" and not "love"), especially from the Spy Kids films. I saw her in Sleepover, which wasn't all that good, though I didn't expect anything better.Alexa put on a pretty good performance. The thing I like to look for in a movie with high profile actors/actresses (such as Alexa Vega in this one) is that I hope that I can believe they are their characters, and not just themselves playing the characters, if that makes sense.Her performance as Vanessa was solid, believable, and (I'm sure for some people, myself not included) tear-rendering. I'm a guy, but I know a lot of girls that would cry during this movie.The rest of the cast did a pretty good job too. Leah Pipes seemed like the typical popular girl. Like many popular girls at my school, she talked a lot of trash, yet didn't really mean what she said. In the end, she was the one left alone, and you DON'T feel sorry for her.The biggest surprise for me was the rock-solid performance by Alicia Morton as snooty, wannabe Tiffany. The last time I saw Alicia in anything was several years ago in the Disney remake of Annie, which she wasn't bad at, but I didn't really think about her having been Annie as much as I thought I would. She, like Stacey (Leah Pipes) was very much like the preppy, popular girls at my school.Though she put on an okay performance, Elizabeth Rice, who played Nikki, Stacey's best friend and Vanessa's former friend, stood out the least. Though her acting was convincing, I didn't really think of her character as much when it came to the "mean girls" in the movie.Before I saw this film, my brothers, who had seen it before and didn't especially like it, told me it was like Mean Girls, though more dramatic. If you're looking for a movie like Mean Girls, this is NOT the movie to see. It is NOT funny, for one thing, and it has a very different storyline.If you think you will enjoy the film, you are wrong. You WILL ,like it though. Anybody who has been to high school can relate, whether you are a guy or girl.

I watched this movie at the end of last year with low expectations. I saw about a half hour of Sleepover and decided that Alex Vega was among the worst young actresses in Hollywood.Odd Girl Out is not completely pathetic "Days Of Our Lives" crap, but it is so stereotyped and the characters are badly interpreted. I found Vega's Vanessa to be pathetic, stupid and a victim. For example her friends create a hate website about her and yet she still asks her friend Stacey if she's angry with her... which honestly makes no sense. The mother was actually fairly impressive but nothing to write home about. The film drags a bit and Vanessa continues to run back to Stacey even after she continues to bully her.It's hard for me to judge because I have never been to a American high school and my own high school isn't to bad with girl fights and all that jazz, but I think it became heavily over the top with the hate websites, chopping off of hair and that OD thing. It just seems that those girls became way to cruel and over the top.It's pretty bad but I can see why it might appeal to some people. In my opinion however, it's a inaccurate portrayal of teenage girls. From my own experience, they are far more subtle and sneaky than this films portrays. If you want a film that is "in touch" with teenagers and never gets melodramatic, watch Mean Girls.