A Girl Like Grace

A couple of decent performances can't save this heavy-handed coming-of-age story; it's miscast and tries too hard to push the envelope while falling short of being truly memorable or relevant. Destiny does a fine job playing Grace, who's still grieving and processing the death of her best friend. But Beauvais overplays her role to an almost campy degree, and Raven-Symoné is far too old to play a high-school mean girl. And Good, while a talented actress, looks old enough to be Destiny's mother, rather a friend's older sister.

With A Girl Like Grace, director Ty Hodges clearly hoped to make a movie as impactful as Thirteen or Precious, but the tone, screenplay, and acting don't work cohesively enough to give the film that kind of heft. Yes, it's "gritty," and there are several disturbing scenes that will make parents cringe, but that's not what makes for a superb coming-of-age story. At the very least, the movie should prompt many conversations about everything from bullying and self-harm to substance use and parental abuse.