Review of the movie | Teen Ink

Review of the movie

May 17, 2022
By Wolfdog26 BRONZE, Hartland, Wisconsin
Wolfdog26 BRONZE, Hartland, Wisconsin
3 articles 0 photos 0 comments

Have you ever wanted to watch a movie with Spies, teenagers, fighting, and relationships all taking place in an average high school? This interesting mix of elements was initially what pulled me in. What made me keep watching was the movie bringing back early childhood memories of watching similar movies in the early 2000s.

The movie “Barely Lethal” is about a teen spy in a secret agent organization who realizes she is missing out on a normal teenage life. So she fakes her own death in order to get away from the spy organization and is taken in by a new foster family. With minor conflicts with getting along with her new foster sister, learning how to adjust to a normal teen life including high school, and getting a boy to notice her. The main conflict consists of a spy organization sending other spies after her because they thought she faked her own death to join the enemy organization.

The cast of this movie made it seem extremely intriguing with actors that most people would be able to recognize and actors with multiple acting awards. Making the actor's performance in the movie extremely powerful. Actors such as Hailee Steinfeld playing the main character (Megan) and Samuel L. Jackson playing Hardman, a father figure to Megan and the lead instructor of the secret agent organization. Dove Cameron and Rachael Harris play the sister and mother of the family who takes Megan in as their family without knowing she is a former secret agent.

The movie makes it feel very apparent that it is meant for teens. With typical stereotypes of how teenagers normally act. Cringy nicknames for stuff in the movie to make it seem relatable such as the word “nickel” used to say cool by the teenagers in the movie. Even more so it has a Disney teen romance, with the main character going after the typical bad boy. Only to realize that he is not the perfect guy he is meant to be. Leaving the main character to fall in love with the nerdy geek that has been alongside the main character the whole time. This romantic plot is similar to many other teenager movies and makes the whole movie seem to lack creativity.


This movie contains the typical type of action sequences in an action movie and basic highschool school situations prevalent in most teen movies. The writing of the movie wasn’t award-winning or even eloquent. The movie as a whole didn’t make any strides in the movie industry. The movie modeled off many similar teen spy movies such as Hannah Montana's movie called “So Undercover”. “So Undercover” has a similar plot to this movie and even the same type of comedy.

The cringy teen stereotypes and bad fighting scenes are all things you can look past during this movie. The real heart of this movie is that you can watch it and instantly be transported back to your childhood. Allowing you to reminisce about movies similar to this one that most kids seem to watch as kids. A movie that you can watch with friends and family.

In conclusion, this movie has good and bad qualities to it however if you have free time. I recommend you spend your time watching this movie to enjoy being brought back to your childhood.



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