It is difficult to make a movie with such little grounds to stand on plot-wise and make it a financial success, but the original Tall Girl managed to lampoon itself into pop culture memedom due to its weak premise. The premise is self-explanatory; it is a movie about a tall girl and how hard it is to be a tall girl. The movie faced immense criticism, mostly because the first movie made a tall, white girl – played by Dance Moms alum Ava Michelle – the number one pariah of her high school. But, to his credit, Tall Girl and Tall Girl 2’s creator, Sam Wolfson, writer of the tone-deaf film Jewtopia – a movie filled with racist stereotypes and sexist jokes – took these critiques in stride and made significant changes to the focus of the sequel. Rather than leading the crusade against, what can only be described as ‘tallism,’ Tall Girl 2 centers on something real teens struggle with: anxiety and self-doubt. This shift in subject matter certainly improves upon this sequel’s respectability, but the movie, just like its predecessor, is still rife with Wolfson’s unique brand of out-of-touch-ness. In addition, while there is a b-plot that I personally enjoy, it can’t save Tall Girl 2 from its biggest problem: removing the one plot point that made people watch the first movie, takes away its ‘memeability’ and thus makes this film less entertaining and less culturally significant.
Unfortunately for this sequel, Wolfson possesses the kind of lack of awareness that can only be produced by middle-aged white men writing woke, teen romances… and it shows. The anxiety-ridden teenager struggling with self-doubt, while relatable, is overdone. The entire main plot in which Jodie struggles with her insecurities as she prepares to play Kim in Bye, Bye Birdie is boring. But worse, the way Wolfson chose to depict self-doubt is cheesy and sophomoric; an echoey voice-over of Jodie tells herself she is not good enough. It’s meant to be the inner voice that we supposedly all have but it ends up less so relatable and more so reminiscent of something one would see in a 1990s afterschool special about self-love.
The main plot also has Jodie breaking up with her boyfriend Dunkleman – played by Griffin Gluck – and embroiled in a love triangle between him and a new, diverse love interest. It is overdone and makes for a stale plot, especially now that the comedically over-the-top focus on Jodie’s height has been removed.
All that said, it would not be fair for me to say this movie is entirely meritless. This brings me to the only part of the plot that I cared about: the relationship between said best friend, Fareeda, played by Anjelika Washington, and the first movie’s love interest, Stig, played by Luke Eisner. Why do I only enjoy this plot point? Simple. I love himbos and the enemies-to-lovers trope and in this film. Stig, a simple-minded but lovable Swede develops a crush on Fareeda who holds a grudge against him for hurting Jodie in the first film. But through his efforts to show his respect for Fareeda he wins her love. It is wholesome and I selfishly enjoyed it.
Overall, is this a masterpiece in cinema? No. But it tried to improve upon the first movie’s flaws, it has two tropes that I love, and that’s enough for me to say I enjoyed this movie. As for whether you should watch this film… eh, it’s only an hour and twenty minutes long so pour a drink with friends and have a laugh at the voice in Jodie’s head.