‘The Girl Who Had It All’: Mila Kunis faces injustice in this new Netflix hit

Netflix returns to have another success inspired by real events. After ousting “Blonde” and the horror film “Mr. Harrigan’s Telephone”, the thriller “The Girl Who Had Everything” was crowned the most viewed film on the platform. A film directed by Mike Barker, based on the homonymous bestseller by Jessica Knoll, who also signs the screenplay, which has Mila Kunis to voice and face injustice and who tries to show the complexity of a woman in recognizing that, as a teenager, she was the victim of gang rape.

Although “The Girl Who Had Everything” is based on a novel, it is inspired by real events, in which the author herself suffered. Therefore I feel that the film must have a certain kind of responsibility in what it portrays and, above all, in what it denounces. The tape, in fact, shows the feeling of impunity that exists in groups of kids, especially in high school, and how that feeling was much greater decades ago, before the emergence of the Me Too movement. Add to that that the victim, who for many years refused to be, sees how one of his attackers has become a celebrity and an activist against the use of weaponsafter the institution where they both studied suffered a shooting by two students who were bullied by the group that raped the protagonist, Tiffani.

Decidedly, ‘The Girl Who Had It All’ had many faces. First, to give visibility to those women and adolescents who have been sexually abused and who have remained silent for various reasons. Here we see the attempt to denounce the impunity that exists and how each victim needs time to dare to report what happened, inviting a revision of the penal system. Added to this is a certain denunciation of the situation of journalists, a profession exercised by the protagonist, who works in a magazine prey to clickbait and sensational articles. There is also a message in favor of gun control, in a country that brings deaths from firearms. Of course, It also raises, from a feminist perspective, gender roles in the couple and how to deal with a marriage bond in the 21st century.

Mila Kunis tries to save a too dispersed story

Too many themes for a film whose ambitions it cannot meet. It is halfway through everything you intend to report. To this is added a tone of romantic comedy that seriously damages him, especially for having wanted to combine it with the psychological thriller. He tries to play in the same league as’ Gone Girl ‘,’ Side Effects’ or ‘A Small Favor’, but ends up playing in one closer to ‘The Girl on the Train’, ‘Dark Places’ or’ The Woman in the window’. This is a clear script error, written by the author herselfwho had no previous experience writing film scripts.

yes of course that It is appreciated that stories arrive that make victims of sexual abuse visible and reflect on a fact that continues to be current. However, that exercise makes “A Promising Girl” much better., who also dared with some scenes of black humor. However, Emerald Fennell’s film was much more aware of what it intended to denounce, it also focused its message much more, which “The Girl Who Had Everything” lacks, especially due to the dispersion of what it seeks to make visible.

The result is a deceptive production, with a Mila Kunis defending her role as best she can. Saving distances, the Ukrainian-American’s work is reminiscent of ‘4 days’, in which her talent tried to save a predictable script with the aroma of a TV show. Undoubtedly, ‘The Girl Who Had Everything’ had material for a sublime cinematic exercise that, in addition, had the addition of social denunciation. However, it leaves the feeling of a missed opportunity.

Note: 5

The best: Mila Kunis’ attempt to make the film have more background than shape.

Worse: He is very dispersed in the issues he tries to denounce. He stays in no man’s land.