Review of Cyberbully (2011) by Michael B — 01 Jul 2013

Cyberbully is a made-for-TV film co-created by ABC family and Seventeen magazine. The movie serves as a narrative PSA for the dangers of cyberbullying. In making the film, ABC family hoped to cause major social change by '[Deleting] Digital Drama'. Right off the bat I have a serious problem with this film. The fact that ABC Family would use the phrase 'Drama', a term primarily used by prepubescent girls to describe a slight altercation between two people, to refer to Cyberbullying, a practice that is taking the lives of teens every year, makes me want to punch whoever thought of that phrase in the face, but I digress. Cyberbully is a movie that was made backwards. ABC Family and Seventeen decided to make a film telling people what to do if they find themselves or others being cyberbullied. The film serves as a way to educate the masses about this issue and make a vast, positive social impact. The only problem is, once they decided on the 4 or so messages they wanted to relay, they picked an ideal audience then sat down to make the movie.

Now I, personally, hate this movie. I think it is a steaming pile of crap. I hate the story, I hate the acting, I hate the characters, I hate the cinematography and I hate the dialogue. If I had a choice between sitting down and watching Emily Osment blunder about and make slight variations of her constipated face for an hour and a half or getting punched in the head by my rather formidable roommate I'd have trouble deciding. I've never seen that many cliches in one film before. Unpopular girl wants to be popular. Popular girl is mean and cold to Unpopular girl. Unpopular girl has a crush on the cute boy at school. Popular girl is even meaner to Unpopular girl. Unpopular girl starts losing her friends. Unpopular girl wins the day against Popular girl and gets all her friends back. Sound familiar? That is a basic plot synopsis for Cyberbully and nearly every other chick flick that takes place in high school. The story is well trodden, the acting is non-existent and the characters are laughably one-dimensional. It is like watching an episode of Hannah Montana, except Hannah is driven to the point of attempted suicide.

Of course, I am not the filmâ(TM)s intended audience - an 18-year-old male who has to write an essay for his college English class. No, Cyberbullyâ(TM)s audience is the kind of people that, when they turn on their TV, Disney Channel pops up. Jonas brothers are their favorite band. They own several Hannah Montana shirts and wept at the showâ(TM)s cancellation. Cyberbully was made to tell this audience that cyberbullying is very harmful and to instruct them on what to do if they see cyberbullying occur. That is the entire point of the film. Thatâ(TM)s why it feels like a twisted, dark episode of Hannah Montana. Thatâ(TM)s why the producersâ(TM) cast Emily Osment. She is famous for being Hannah Montanaâ(TM)s best friend in the TV show. The story, acting and dialogue are all completely irrelevant. At the end of the day, my complaints donâ(TM)t matter because the 13 year olds that watch this wonâ(TM)t care if the story is clichà (C)d or if the acting makes you want to put your fist through a wall. Theyâ(TM)re used to garbage TV so they donâ(TM)t care if they watch a garbage movie.

However, this movie could have been so much more. If ABC Familyâ(TM)s intended purpose of this movie was to stomp out âdigital dramaâ? is this kind of movie really the best way to accomplish this? Society changing films like An Inconvenient Truth succeed because of their universality and their appeal to a wide audience. By catering this movie primarily to pre-teens, Cyberbully manages to isolate nearly every other group. Its subject matter is too dark for little kids and the terrible acting and clichà (C)-ridden story are too painful for the parents and older kids to sit through. ABC Family and Seventeen wanted this movie to shake up society and get us to honestly take a good look at ourselves, yet when I told my class I was going to be reviewing Cyberbully at least three people made audible, painful groans as they remembered this terrible film. ABC family had a really good chance of making a society changing film, but by catering to the audience that they did, they missed by a long shot.