The recent release of “Tall Girl” a Netflix original, has brought nothing but controversy and became a huge internet meme within days. Released on Sept. 13, 2019, the movie revolves around the life of a 16-year-old girl, Jodi, who is 6’2” and wears size 13 Nikes. MEN’S size 13 Nikes. Jodi has been unusually tall her entire life, and she is constantly being made fun of about her height.
She has a friend named Dunkleman, who always carries around a crate (which will come into play later), and he is in love with Jodi. He has asked her out many times, but every time Jodi shrugs it off because Dunkleman is much shorter than her. Then comes in this new exchange student from Sweden, Stig, who is the epitome of Jodi’s dream boyfriend. Hot and tan, with long hair, and most importantly, he is taller than Jodi! Jodi really likes him and wants him to notice her but is told by her sister that the way she dresses will not catch his attention. Once Jodi gets so jealous about other girls hanging out with him, she decides to have her sister give her a makeover.
Stig gets into a relationship with the most popular girl at school, Kimmy, and when people find out that Jodi likes Stig, Kimmy prank calls Jodi pretending to be Stig and asking her to homecoming. Jodi says yes, only to realize it was people in her grade pranking her, and while hiding from them at school she goes into the music room only to find Stig sitting there at the piano. So of course, they sing a duet because what else would they do? Jodi’s mission is complete, Stig noticed her.
While Jodi is struggling at school, her father is trying to help her as best as he can. He is worried that her height is a symptom of a medical disorder that could hurt her in the future. All he wants to do is help his daughter with her height, but he goes about it very poorly. Stig invites a group of tall people to have a meeting at their house in order for Jodi to meet other people like her. Jodi dislikes this because it insinuates that she is different and all she wants to do is be normal and fit in.
Finally, she works up the courage to ask Stig to be her date to her sister’s pageant. And he doesn’t show up. Stig then at a party pretends that Jodi is chasing after him and she has an unrequited love for him. She finds out about this and then also finds out that Dunkleman was also at the party and punched Stig for saying those things. At their homecoming dance when Stig and Kimmy get named king and queen, Stig breaks up with Kimmy, realizing he wanted to be with Jodi. A furious Jodi however finally comes to the conclusion that Stig is not right for her, and she wasn’t waiting around for him. So when Stig asks Jodi to be his girlfriend, she says no.
At the very end, Jodi realizes that Dunkleman was in front of her all along and that he actually cared for her. We finally find out what he needed the crate for as he stands on it to kiss Jodi. How cute. However, the story is so boring. It’s the same as every single Netflix original. The only difference is that the minority targeted in this one is the tall girl population (if that’s even a thing). It seemed like Netflix ran out of ideas.
They had also been advertising the movie so much. It was all over their Instagram feed before it came out, and every time I opened Netflix the trailer was playing. The movie also raised a lot of controversies specifically about how Jodi feels as though her life has ended because of her height. The famous line from the movie, “You think your life is hard? I’m a high school junior wearing size 13 Nikes. Men’s size 13 Nikes. Beat that” rapidly became a meme. Especially on Tik Tok, many people were posting videos “beating her” in their struggles.
Like for example, one girl was saying that her parents died when she was three, but she wears size seven women’s Nikes so her life is blessed. I personally find this movie the worst that Netflix has EVER released. They have gotten to the point where they’re taking off all the good shows and movies and replacing them with literal trash. I’m sorry, but how is being a tall girl that difficult?
While I understand how she feels when people are making fun of her, she’s only 6’2”. The weather can’t be different four inches above everybody else’s heads. It’s not something she can change, and she’s going to have to live with it her entire life, so she should not make a big deal out of it. And the stereotype that tall girls can’t date short guys is the root of toxic masculinity.
The reason guys think they need to be taller is because of girls like Jodi who won’t date them if they are shorter than her. Overall, I am disappointed in Netflix’s ability to create better content. It’s like they all sat around a table trying to decide what the minority target of the next movie would be and some random guy decided that tall girls would be a fun one and they actually thought it was a good idea. In what world is that a good idea?! Obviously not ours as the movie was a complete flop. I recommend you watch it just to see how horrible it is and laugh along.
