Review of Sick Girl (2006) by Chris C — 07 Sep 2011

Sick girl is an American independent film written, directed, and produced by Eben McGarr. It stars the wonderful Leslie Andrews and the terrible John McGarr (who also helped in the production). This film is ripe with noticeable dichotomies such as the talent gap between lead actors.

First of all the style of this film is just fantastic. It hits you right with the opening title, BAM, you're watching Sick Girl! The film easily and instantly sucks you in. Leslie Andrews, who plays Izzy, gives a fantastic performance and from the start it is hard to take your eyes off her. Andrews gets so deep into her character that you can literally see the craziness twinkling in her eyes, hear the depravity in her voice. This is contrasted by John McGarr's character Barney. He is, physically, such a large and imposing figure in this film, seen first wearing a black biker jacket in a very green setting, and his presence in any scene is palpable. He is a great terrible actor. He captures any scene he is in, can't act for dick, and somehow he works. His bad acting makes him accessible, imparts upon him that sense that he is a giant teddy bear of a man. Every time he speaks though I felt like I was watching a made-for-TV-movie.

There are a few particular child actors who do such a terrible job though that scenes in the film suffer from it. At first I thought the violence was underdone as a nod to style, but by the end of the film I realized it was more than likely the poor actors who made the violence in earlier scenes stand out as unbelievable and rushed. And while Leslie Andrews in these scenes can make your skin crawl, the children don't even look like they know they're acting in a film. It draws attention to itself, but luckily most of these scenes are in the first half of the film.

The ending is where the magic of this film really comes out. The climax is so powerful and well done that it validates earlier issues of acting and special effects. One's appreciation is definitely enhanced after seeing the ending. A very well told story and one I'm glad I didn't miss.