Movie Review – Sweet Girl

Sweet Girl (2021)
Written by Philip Eisner & Gregg Hurwitz
Directed by Brian Andrew Mendoza

Netflix original movies/shows can be hit or miss. There are times when their movies feel like the thing you settled for when you rent something. You’re left with the subpar version of what you wanted. You stare at the title, think you’ve seen the trailer, but everything is a blur as things melt one into the other. All titles are similar, the colors, nothing bright or new.

I hold a strange love for action movies. There’s something about them that helps shut off my brain. No thoughts, head empty, watch people get bruises. Aesthetically pleasing cuts or scrapes are placed on the actors, for it is always the corner of their brow right about their eye is where a cut appears.

I respect Jason Momoa as one of those actors due to his activism, his stand on Hollywood’s lack of diversity, and how he’s taken a stand against things that might take away work. He was vocal about construction done in Hawaii because colonizers are doing the most to destroy what’s left on this planet.

Despite that, his acting to me has never been stellar. It feels as if casting and directors ask him to be intimidating, use a grave tone in his voice, and boom, there’s a check.

Does this mean Sweet Girl could be a sleeper hit? No. But Jason Momoa was giving range I had not to witness in a while.

I almost wish this thriller action movie had been a solid mini-series that was cleverly written or for someone with a better sense of editing came in to tighten it up. This movie is close to two hours. Two hours. 120 minutes. I shall curse Disney’s MCU for this, they affirmed this trend and I am going to blame them wholly.

The movie’s premise is that a devastated husband vows to bring justice for the people responsible for his wife’s death while protecting the only person he has left, his daughter.

There are a few twists in this. Some spinning turns to leave you squinting your eyes, going, “Ah, what now?”

There is some liberal nonsense sprinkled in there. This idea that the FBI would be on a citizen’s side. A remark about how we voted for public health insurance and taking a stance. Somehow recording a politician’s statement would get them arrested. Only in the movies would corrupt politicians ever get stopped by the FBI. Imagination at its finest!

It left me with so many questions, although I was entertained. I wish to plead with whoever to please make Isabela Merced, who plays Jason Momoa’s daughter in this, into an action star. She has the grit. Please, someone do this for me.

It’s something to play in the background without giving it too much attention despite some cool moments. If you want to hear someone repeatedly say, “Stay in the car!” this might be your thing.

The fight scenes are pretty good, although I was left questioning why it was that technology wasn’t as used as it could’ve been. It made me think someone who wrote for things in the mid-’90s was in charge of it. Who pins information on walls anymore in their apartment? We keep our hyper fixation on tablets or at the least in a notebook. What landlord allows that? These people are poor, they need that deposit back.

There’s also this thing that Rachel Cooper (Isabela Merced) has this cool, edgy makeup on while on the run, which would confuse me. If someone told me to take only the essentials, I would not be bringing my makeup bag unless I’m wrong. Am I? In the end, to show her distress, her hair is now a mess. We can tell someone’s mental health is on the decline. They no longer look their best.

The weakest actor Lex Scott Davis as FBI Detective Sarah Meeker. This wasn’t even a cast to rave about. Except for Amy Brenneman as Diana Morgan, but this is because she’s in my favorite series of all time. I might allow her anything for a while.

This was a hot mess. I was amused, but that’s because I will squeeze the good out of anything to justify 120 minutes taken from my life for this.