Luckiest Girl Alive

Luckiest Girl Alive

A successful woman in New York City finds her life upended when she is forced to confront a dark truth that threatens to unravel her meticulously crafted life.

  • Released: 2022-09-30
  • Runtime: 113 minutes
  • Genre: Crime, Drama
  • Stars: Mila Kunis, Finn Wittrock, Scoot McNairy, Chiara Aurelia, Thomas Barbusca, Justine Lupe, Alexandra Beaton, Dalmar Abuzeid, Alex Barone, Carson MacCormac, Jennifer Beals, Connie Britton, Gage Munroe, Alexandra Beaton, Nicole Huff, Isaac Kragten, David Webster
  • Director: Mike Barker
 Comments
  • jansetkebat - 22 January 2024
    THANK YOU FOR MAKING THIS MOVIE
    I'm grateful some people made this movie

    It is really difficult to describe rape, unwanted sex so accurately. Not being understood also discourages people from explaining. This movie is a very good project to help people understand us. I hope what the movie wants to tell reaches as many people as possible.

    When we try to explain, the questions people ask, the doubts and disbelief in their voices while asking the questions, and the fact that the situation makes us question ourselves... Going back, reviewing your memories and wondering if I am guilty of this rape... Watching the same images again and again...
  • rich-fouts - 15 June 2023
    When Your Rape Costs More Than Your Rent
    Turns out many girls pay over $900 for their own rape kit. It's one of the many tidbits we learn as this film, based on the novel by Jessica Knoll, unfolds. We see a young woman, Ana Fanelli, a writer working in New York City who has it all. The prestigious job, beauty, grace, the handsome boyfriend/fiancé (who is also rich). But underneath this beautiful scenery is a woman who endured a rocky childhood, topped off by a high school experience that none of us will ever go through.

    The two traumas, rape and a school shooting (and witnessing the brutal murders of classmates), at first just appears to be bad luck. How lousy, and unfortunate, could it be that two events like this could happen to the same person? But as things unfold we see that they might be related in some sort of bizarre way. And that, is the brilliance of the storytelling. The layers of the onion peel off, just slowly and with enough information that convince us the two events have some sort of weird, direct relationship. But the mystery is sustained to keep us interested.

    The other technique that director Mike Barker does so well is how he tells the story through a series of flashbacks. With each one we learn a bit more and we are able to start connecting the chronological dots.

    At the center of the story is a stellar performance by Mila Kunis, who acts as the protagonist and the story's narrator. As Ana, she copes by secretly living her worse fantasies in her head, while performing what everyone expects her to be when she's "on stage." She's convinced herself and others (especially her fiancé, played by the great Finn Wittrock) that she has moved on, only to slowly realize she needs to just stop, take stock of herself, and live through the hurt.

    She hasn't really moved to the other side because she has no roadmap, but given some time and clarity, she knows she can get there. While Ana feels helpless at times, and confused, she has enormous strength and a strong sense of reality to make the journey. She's afraid and unafraid at the same time, but just keeps moving in her search for truth, a difficult task for any actress, but Kunis is definitely up for the challenge.

    I really enjoyed the structure of the story, as told through flashbacks, especially how all the events that give us the whole picture come crashing to an end with a brilliantly shot school shooting (which brings you right into the terror of what it's like to be trapped in a school while a gunman roams about looking for targets).

    What's also done very well is the beauty, glamour and fashion of New York City acting as the uber-layer to the horrors of rape and murder. While it was a complicated undertaking to bring Knoll's novel to the screen, director Mike Barker (The Handmaid's Tale, Fargo, and the fabulous Best Laid Plans.) really pulls if off. This was definitely the kind of story Barker likes to tell, isn't afraid to tell, and he delivers a firm grasp of the material brilliantly.

    A definite must-see film and definitely a tour-de-force for Kunis.
  • bitterskeptic - 5 March 2023
    You'll be lucky if you skip it
    Watching this movie is as enjoyable as removing your contacts with a belt sander.

    Pick your favorite plot elements: rape, unresolved trauma, lies, guilt, impersonation, emotional abuse, physical abuse, bullying, social climbing,eating disorders, sexuality as a weapon/weakness, victim blaming, gun rights, and school shootings. Oh wait. All of that is in this one movie. Sound uncomfortable? It is.

    The luckiest girl alive plays off its secrets? What drives this successful women? Which is a question the audience shouldn't have to ask. Or think of, and is played up like she's a murderous psycho. Only to beat us over the head for the last 2/3 of the movie with her trauma and victim hood. So we know her entire image is just a defense mechanism.

    The movie is hate filled and depressing. Showing trauma, survivors guilt and self loathing as a delusional mental condition on par with schizophrenia. Poorly edited flashbacks are shoved in so we can watch the main character suffer private high-school bullying for being poor, gang rape, and the school covering it up. These of course are simply cut to and presented as violent delusional outbursts.

    The whole maguffin of this film is a documentary the main character has absolutely no need to be involved in. It's presence as a plot tool is a garbage segue between trauma. Specifically since we are presented with her trauma in its absence anyway. In the end nothing is made better and the film devolves into a sloppy revenge sub plot that is only introduced in the final 20 min.

    The movie shows a deeply damaged woman struggling to keep up her veneer of fake success and class whole suffering daily with flashbacks, outbursts and past trauma. Then the movie pretends an act of revenge cured all of that. Not therapy, not medication, not understanding by herself and others. She calls out her childhood abuser in an new your times magazine article. Showing her as strong and powerful. Free of guilt, pain and delusional thoughts after. Despite the fact doing this ends her marriage, dives off her family, loses her home, social status, most friends, and ignores the obvious incoming lawsuits.

    A crude, dark, grim and unpleasant movie whose depictions of rape and victim blaming will leave your skin crawling with disgust. A movie with nothing worth recommending and no reason to ever re watch. It's a great way to ruin your night.

    Don't test your luck on the luckiest girl. Avoid it and consider yourself lucky you saw this review before watching it.
  • daniel-nys - 25 December 2022
    Go watch this
    It's a shame the exquisit last five minuts need a two hour movie to build up to this point. The empowerment of the leading lady shows a lot. A confusing start of this movie is needed to build up the story but it seems to take a lot of time for me.

    I feel it needs to show me what's wrong with her. Why she feels off. Soon you learn it's more than the attack at school.

    The scene you need to see is to next to last one. Lots of women respond to her writing in a smart making of this scene. For me it feels the makers of this movie had this part in mind and made the prequel for it.

    If the rest of the movie was of this level, it would have been perfect in it's genre.
  • stevenjscottuk - 25 November 2022
    A delicate subject treated with much care
    Such a modern world and yet sexual assault is still so real, so daily that it almost goes unnoticed. Based on Jessica Knoll's story, and I do not mean just the novel she wrote, that is the basis for this movie, but her story. A captivating somewhat mysterious story. How far can some people can get away with something, and how important is who tells the story and what is the truth behind it. Trauma is a component in so many people's life, but how we deal with that trauma, how we get passed it, how we best tackle it, I think this movie can provide the answer. It does deserve very much attention as it is a very good movie.

    Just an opinion. Just a thought. Just Steven J. Scott.
  • LupeLup - 9 November 2022
    A Netflix movie through and through
    I've gotten accustomed to Netflix movie originals being tediously literal and treating me like an idiot, but for some reason I expected better from this one.

    The movie is nicely shot, for the most part, although all the sets have that Netflix-esque gloss to them that makes them feel entirely fake.

    The acting ranges from alright to terrible, the only exception being Chiara Aurelia, who is, in my opinion, the only one who shines and is truly able to portray the horror of her situation.

    The script is veeeery cringe worthy at times.

    I'll give the writer the benefit of doubt, since I haven't read the book. I'd like to believe she's a way better novelist than she is a screenwriter, since I've seen her work compared to Gillian Flynn's brilliant Gone Girl.

    Which brings me to my next point: the marketing really hurt this movie. They're trying to sell it as a psychological thriller when it's really more of a drama.

    I came in expecting some sort of plot twist, but all cards are on the table quite early into the movie.

    There's very little exploration of the effects actually KILLING SOMEONE had on her. I understand that's not the main focus here, but just addressing it with one line during her interview made the whole thing feel pointless.

    Also, I'm sick and tired of movies belittling women who work at women's magazines or have otherwise traditionally feminine jobs and interests by having a main character who is soooooo much better than them because she's different.

    The way it frames the articles that Ani writes made me want to punch something. What's wrong with reading or writing about 15,000 ways to touch a dick or how to achieve an orgasm?

    I understand if that's how Ani feels because of her trauma, but the movie frames it as something inherently vapid and unworthy of one's time but like... not everything must be thought-provoking social commentary.

    Lastly, I feel like I need to respond to some reviews I've read that just rile me up: 1) No, this isn't badly reviewed because it touches sensitive topic or because it has a strong female lead. There are plenty of incredible and well-reviewed movies about SA and strong female leads. This one's just not up there.

    2) A main character doesn't have to be likeable to be great. Ani being "unlikeable" (which she may or may not be to you) is not this movie's main issue.

    This review is way too long lol.
  • sashakushnir - 31 October 2022
    Watchable at best
    The movie unnecessarily simplifies and narrows the novel's message to "me too" movement. And not because giving voices to abused women is a matter of simplicity but because Ani's complicated personality with a very pronounced dark side here is reduced to a plastic agenda serving puppet. I mean, in the book she practically confesses to herself that had she been given that gun she would have shot both Arthur and Dean. She steals Arthur's photo knowing how much it means to him and never gives it back. She breaks up with her fiancee over that photo. She is a real person with dark layers and at times (or maybe even throughout the book) comes across as a rather unlikable person. Much more so than grossly overacting Mila Kunis who by the end of the movie pretty much becomes a motivational speaker (oh all of those platitudes and buzz words) and magically transforms into a new self-loving version. Unicorns and butterflies. It is rather sad to me that Netflix feels the need to chew up the material for the audience to swallow comfortably like a penguin for it's pup when in reality movies only make true impact if something meaningful is left unspoken for the viewer to process. Could have been a great movie about the anatomy of trauma but came out as a girl's wine night thriller.