Miller's Girl

Screened at the 2024 Palm Springs International Film Festival - Official Entry.

I felt the need to support Coachella Valley native Jenna Ortega at her hometown film festival and I’m happy to report she delivers in this debut feature from Jade Halley Bartlett as high school student Cairo Sweet (despite some Wednesday Addams vibes carrying over here rather strongly). Does the film itself deliver, though? Does the screenplay? The other actors? I’d say it’s adequate overall.

I quite enjoyed the supporting cast, specifically Winnie (Gideon Adlon, 'Blockers'), the close friend of Sweet's, and the performance from Dagmara Dominczyk, as the alcoholic wife of Martin Freeman’s lead character Jonathan Miller, was darn near perfect. They both brought something unique to the table and gave the film the elevation it needed.

But ... the script. To be fair, it was competently written, but the motivation for this film, what inspired it, and what new it was going to bring was very much absent. Ok, sure: another teacher seduced by student story, we’re familiar with that. As uncomfortable as that scenario can be, especially the older I get, there IS an obvious dynamic there between Ortega and Freeman's characters. However, it was told a bit too thin for it to have any real impact for the viewer. That lack of perspective made the “questionable” scenes a bit cringey as it feels mostly like lust, and thus, cheap.

A lot went right here, enough to make this an entertaining watch, and for me to recommend because I would understand more positive viewpoints (and for that matter, negative). But for me personally, I need more to put this into the territory of “necessary viewing.”