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Parents' Guide to

Carrie Pilby

By S. Jhoanna Robledo, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 14+

Teen genius learns to live life in so-so book-based dramedy.

Movie NR 2017 98 minutes
Carrie Pilby Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

age 15+

Based on 3 parent reviews

age 12+

Suitable for 12 year olds

Good to watch my kids enjoyed it lots. Suitable for 12+ and mature 11 year olds.

This title has:

Great messages
Great role models
age 16+

Move along now, no Insight here

This film (maybe the book, too) doesn't give any insight into how a really intelligent woman might behave. If it were, you'd be thinking "hey that's really weird" much more often. Instead, the scenarios play out in just the way any other coming-of-age film would play out. Any hang-ups that she definitely would have seem to solve themselves instantly, rather than taking years or even decades as would likely be the case.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (3 ):
Kids say (1 ):

Credit goes to Powley for elevating this dramedy from a standard-issue coming-of-age story to one that's more complex -- or at least one that attempts to be. Her Carrie feels like a real person struggling to figure out how to be a person, despite what turns out to be some pretty hefty baggage shaped by real struggles. Nonetheless, the movie gives considerable weight to an ill-advised -- and unequal -- relationship that develops while Carrie is in college but manages to gloss over a profound loss that happens long before that and could very well have shaped it. And that ends up stripping some gravity from the film that it could have used.

Much is made in the film of Carrie's smarts, but her brilliance is used more as a device than as a true foundation for making the character more multi-layered. After all, Powley's talent as an actress can't make up for a flimsy script and underwritten characters. It's a shame, as Carrie -- and Carrie Pilby -- deserved better.

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