What if you combined movies like Fair Play, Gone Girl, Fatal Attraction, A Teacher, May December and even Fifty Shades of Grey? An artificial intelligence output involving these films might be a sort of erotic thriller about an inappropriate teacher-student rapport on the outskirts of civilization, something like Miller’s Girl. It’s a sexually charged story that weaves in juicy side plots dealing with the struggles of a writer and maintaining a day job amid tricky circumstances.
It helps that the red-hot Jenna Ortega and seasoned veteran Martin Freeman are around to inject some life in an otherwise underwhelming film. Writer-director Jade Halley Bartlett has an impressive grasp on the technical aspect of her craft, and promises good things for her future. But even the committed turns from Ortega and Freeman can’t save Miller’s Girl from ultimately flopping due to emotional flatness and a weak ending.
An Erotic Literary Relationship
In Miller’s Girl, literature teacher Jonathan Miller (Freeman), author of just one book called Apostrophes and Ampersands, takes a liking to Ortega’s Cairo Sweet (yes, that’s her official name), particularly her creative writing assignments. In a sort of dual protagonist move, the inciting incident here is when Miller gives Cairo a special writing assignment: to write in the style of an author of her choosing. Given the theme of the film, it’s obvious who she chooses — and that’s when things get tricky.
When Cairo’s teacher finally reads her creative assignment, her flirtatious energy becomes clear to him. Cairo’s writing is cleverly used as the film’s voice-over narration from time to time, an effective tool that may also, unfortunately, leave viewers even more confused as to what her intentions are with this man.
Lionsgate
“If you don’t rewrite this, I’ll have to fail you,” Mr. Miller tells her, though it’s obvious he’s flattered that his writing evoked such appreciation. It becomes clear that Miller feels somewhat like a failed writer, who probably still peeks at his one published work every day to remind himself that he’s indeed a writer, not just a teacher.
Miller’s gym-coach pal Coach Philmore (played by the reliably solid Bashir Salahuddin) even gets a bit too flirtatious with Cairo’s bicurious friend, Winnie (Gideon Adlon), after enlisting her for help with a school project. And at home, Miller is constantly getting teased and seduced by his heavy-drinking wife, played with ultimate Southern lust by Succession star Dagmara Dominczyk. Miller’s erotically tinged relationship that develops with Cairo feels straight from the early ’90s Michael Douglas days of psychosexual thrillers (Basic Instinct, Fatal Attraction), though without the passion behind them.
Jenna Ortega and Martin Freeman Get Hot Without a Spark
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Shot in Georgia — more specifically, inside director Bartlett’s real-life home, as MovieWeb learned from a recent interview with her — with a story set in Tennessee, Miller’s Girl offers Southern accents aplenty, which Ortega pulls off flawlessly. With the English Freeman, on the other hand, it seems to go in and out, though that’s no slight on the actor’s talents in the grand scheme of things. He’s proven he can do other accents, as demonstrated in his award-caliber turn in season one of FX’s Fargo, and if he doesn’t always nail the dialect in Miller’s Girl, he’s always skillfully subtle in his gestures.
Related: 10 Famous Actors Who Used to Be Teachers
The performances rise above the film here. After experiencing Miller’s Girl, it’s clear that Freeman has tackled much meatier projects in years past. And so has Ortega, for that matter. Her starring role in The Fallout was a downright tear-jerker, and she became a great scream queen with X (and, well, Scream). And, of course, her impressive performance in the hit Netflix series Wednesday is infinitely more fun than anything here. Ortega fans might still appreciate her committed turn in Miller’s Girl as the titular persona, and she definitely nails the ‘sexy but possibly unhinged’ type of role here. It’s a fine performance to tide fans over until season two of Wednesday.
While Freeman and Ortega are great, they don’t quite sell the sex here. The chemistry just isn’t quite there, no matter how hot they get. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that the entire film just feels weirdly passionless.
Unrealistic and Uncomfortable Teacher-Student Romance
2.5 /5
Release Date January 26, 2024
Director Jade Halley Bartlett
Runtime 1hr 33min
Writers Jade Halley Bartlett
Pros
- Martin Freeman and especially Jenna Ortega give good and sensual performances.
- There’s a lot of technical skill from this first-time director.
Cons
- Miller’s Girl feels surprisingly flat and passionless given the subject.
- The ending is jarring and deeply unsatisfying.
- The narrative is propelled by unrealistic logic.
With the erotic undertones and variety of implications spawning from Cairo’s writing/narrations, it’s surprising that the overall tone of the film feels muted. And for the first 75 minutes, a big question looming over the movie is: where is the rest of the school’s staff? Miller and Cairo speak regularly after-hours in intimate proximity, and no one bats an eye… because no one is around.
Coach Philmore pops in from time to time, but that isn’t enough to shake the idea that it all feels a bit implausible. The vice principal ultimately gets involved to set things straight between this inappropriate teacher-student rapport, but that comes all too late.
Lionsgate
Cairo is conveniently living in her parents’ mansion, and the parents are out of the picture this whole time. She gets intimate with Winnie at both their houses interchangeably, and Winnie’s parents aren’t around either. They also put their heads together to send innuendos to their teachers, which is hard not to wince at. It ultimately all feels unrealistic and uncomfortable, given the setting.
Related: Jenna Ortega Teases Wednesday’s Horror Vibes and a ‘Visually Exciting’ Beetlejuice 2
There’s a bit of a cliffhanger ending — a sequel might actually be better now that we’ve had this expositional foreground, as long as it can heighten what was good about this film — but it leaves a jarring feeling when the credits roll. And it all feels a bit repetitive by the end, including how Mr. Miller and his wife duke it out about how he won’t just face the music that he’s a failed writer. Perhaps with a bigger budget and a wider spectrum of scenes, this debut feature could have been a home run for Bartlett, who clearly has talent and room to grow. As it stands, it’s a surprisingly flat movie with two strong, sensual performances.
From Lionsgate, Miller’s Girl is now in theaters.
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