Release Date: November 3, 2017

Director: Greta Gerwin

Starring: Saorise Ronan (Lady Bird McPherson), Lucas Hedges (Danny O’Neill), Timothée Chalambert (Kyle Scheible), Laurie Metcalf (Marion McPherson)

MPAA Rating: R

Our Rating: A-

“Lady Bird” has all the things a movie needs to be great: relatable characters and a strong plot. The characters are relevant to daily life, seeing as some of them go to Catholic school and some of them occasionally cheat on their new girlfriend with another guy. When compared to other films from a similar genre, the plot in “Lady Bird” is more entertaining; “Juno” and “Edge of Seventeen“ are merely movies in which semi-rebellious teenage girls do something they kind of regret and then make the whole thing worse. Sadly, unlike “Juno,” which was excellently written and had constant wit (and Michael Cera), or “Edge of Seventeen,” where Woody Harrelson is always there to sarcastically give life advice, “Lady Bird” is neither witty nor excellently written. Unfortunately, “Lady Bird” suffers from a lack of a well meaning and has a cast of deeply unlikable characters whose constant bitterness and quarreling make the movie less of an award winning “dramedy,” and more of a thought out episode of a reality show on TLC.

“The 99% on Rotten Tomatoes it has is for a good reason. Very good movie,” sophomore Kevin Monjarrez said.

The entire dynamic of the protagonist’s family felt unnecessarily strained, and it seemed as though the movie would have been much more entertaining and fulfilling to watch if it were a drama about the family. Unfortunately, that is not the case, and the result is a semi-funny movie about an over-the-top, dramatized version of the Catholic high school experience. Since this movie is in the “dramedy” genre, it can’t capitalize on being either funny or dramatic. Instead, it settles for the movie equivalent of the kind of grey mush you might expect to find served in a movie prison. Ironically enough, you might find yourself in a movie prison if you criticize this film; “Lady Bird” boasts an astonishingly high 99% on Rotten Tomatoes and has won several awards. The movie received several more award nominations and has gotten overall good reception from viewers. Despite all of the movie’s shortcomings, it still manages to wrap up as a cute, albeit not blatantly entertaining, film.

“It was supposed to be a comedy, but it wasn’t even as funny as ‘The Avengers,’ which was supposed to be an action movie,” sophomore Alejandro Mejias said.

Overall, “Lady Bird” is enjoyable to watch, but not entertaining in a way that will have you enthralled like a horror film, or constantly laughing like a true comedy film. “Lady Bird” gives a more subtle kind of entertainment that will make you chuckle. Regardless of any of these things, the movie’s positive qualities strongly outweigh its negatives as a sensibly humorous film for the modern independent movie viewer.

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