The first Tall Girl movie saw the very tall Jodi (Ava Michelle) finally learn to love her height and fall for the boy who’d been by her side all along (Griffin Gluck). In Tall Girl 2, now streaming on Netflix, the now-popular Jodi struggles to navigate her newfound confidence and a lead in the school musical. With a negative voice in her head constantly trying to keep her down, owning her height and being in the spotlight might not be as easy as she’d hoped.
TALL GIRL 2: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
The Gist: Jodi (Ava Michelle) is finally figuring it all out. She’s learning to love her height, happy with her best-friend-turned-boyfriend Dunks (Griffin Gluck), and even brave enough to audition for her school’s production of Bye Bye Birdie. She’s forgiven Stig (Luke Eisner) for his sins against her, and she wears BFF Fareeda’s (Anjelika Washington) designs around school. When she’s cast as the lead in the musical and starts getting attention from other boys, however, Jodi struggles to shut down the negative voice inside her head, afraid she’s going to blow up her life. And in a way, she does; after a botched anniversary dinner, she pushes Dunks to break up with her, and the two head down an uncomfortable path as they wonder if they made the wrong decision.
As rehearsals progress and her friend group deals with their respective issues, Jodi’s anxieties mount; she can’t quite face the fact that her sister Harper (Sabrina Carpenter) is moving to Los Angeles, she can’t get Dunks to talk to her, and the idea of actually getting on stage even as her bully Kimmy (Clara Wilsey) tries to psych her out becomes more and more daunting. What does the future hold? Will she ever be able to truly trust herself? With the help of her support system and finding the kind, confident voice inside herself, however, she may very well make it through after all.
What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: The Kissing Booth, Sierra Burgess is a Loser, and To All The Boys… all kind of fit into the world of Tall Girl, sharing a sweet sort of Netflix high school universe.
Performance Worth Watching: Steve Zahn and Angela Kinsey are pretty much the only reason to watch Tall Girl 2, even if they’re only in a handful of scenes. They also seem to be the only people who realize that they’re in a comedy, and boy, do they play it up. They’re the perfect goofy teen movie parents, flirting with each other, embarrassing their daughters, and offering emotional support in the more serious moments when needed. Tall Girl 2 is totally skippable, but I’d watch an entire movie about Zahn and Kinsey’s shenanigans.
Memorable Dialogue: The Tall Girl 2 script is not great, but Anjelika Washington’s delivery of “keep walkin’, IKEA!” got a genuine laugh out of me.
Sex and Skin: None.
Our Take: Tall Girl is silly. It always has been. There’s a little bit of charm present due to the strength of the cast, but the writing is shallow, presenting us with undeveloped friends and a one-note mean girl. The sequel feels entirely unnecessary, especially given the totally forgettable nature of the first installment. At the beginning, Jodi had no real personality beyond her insecurity, slouching through the hallways with a sullen look on her face and hoping that no one would notice her. In Tall Girl 2, she’s once again not given much to do besides figure out which boy she wants to date and learn to silence the negative voice inside her head. Griffin Gluck, so damn funny in American Vandal, does his best to elevate a shoddy script, but short king Dunks somehow falls into the grating nice guy trope this time around, and it sucks. Jodi’s friends – Fareeda in particular – who were previously relegated to the sidelines, do get a bit more to do here without simply waiting to cheer on Jodi, which is a welcome changeup. Unfortunately, however, the plot of Tall Girl 2 feels all over the place and confused, existing in a world of sexless, stake-less sweetness that expects us to care deeply about a character so self-absorbed that she can’t notice what’s happening in the lives of anyone around her.
Our Call: SKIP IT. Despite its lovely young cast, Tall Girl 2 feels totally unnecessary, a sweet but silly followup to a movie that wasn’t all that memorable to begin with.
Jade Budowski is a freelance writer with a knack for ruining punchlines, hogging the mic at karaoke, and thirst-tweeting. Follow her on Twitter: @jadebudowski.
