the luckiest girl alive movie reviews

Luckiest Girl Alive

It's been more than two decades since the deadly Columbine high school shooting that shook the world. While these traumatic events continue to happen to the point of ubiquity and a whole generation of kids have grown up in their wake, Hollywood has found in them a new setting for films that deal with lingering high school trauma. It seems for every compassionate, nuanced film like " The Fallout ," there's something exploitative like " The Desperate Hour ." 

Unfortunately, "Luckiest Girl Alive," the latest of these films falls in that latter category. Based on the book of the same name by Jessica Knoll , who also serves as screenwriter, the movie not only dramatizes a school shooting in poor taste, it has the gall to use one as the backdrop while it also exploits rape trauma in the name of girl boss feminism.

With a tone ripped directly from " Gone Girl ," the film centers on the seemingly perfect life of Ani ( Mila Kunis ), a writer for a glossy women's magazine named The Woman's Bible. She's written "1,500 stories about how to give a blow job" but all she really wants is a job at the New York Times Magazine so she can be "someone people can respect." Ani is engaged to an old money scion named Luke ( Finn Wittrock , given nothing to do), who is more of a box to check towards Ani's goal of unquestionable social legitimacy than anything else. 

Her desire to be the most uncontestable rich person stems from her high school days. A scholarship kid at an elite prep school in Philadelphia, Ani, then known as Tiff ( Chiara Aurelia ), is a survivor of the "deadliest private school shooting in U.S. history." That this shooting took place in 1999 (the same year as Columbine) and the film's revelation of who the perpetrators were is one of many incredibly tasteless decisions it makes, which is quite a distinction as the whole thing is mostly made up of tasteless decisions. 

Through flashbacks and Ani's narration (which is haphazardly deployed throughout as her cynical inner thoughts, an interview for a documentary, and the copy for a piece she writes during the film's denouement), we learn that one of the survivors, now a gun reform activist, claims that Ani was in on the shooting—but also that this same survivor was one of three classmates who gang-raped Ani at a school dance after party just weeks before the shooting. In order to win the he-said-she-said of it all, Ani aims to climb the top of the social ladder, and then share her side of the story.

Despite the luridness of the material and Mike Barker 's brutal blocking of the rape sequence, Aurelia does a fine job in showing Ani's pain and resistance during, confusion immediately after, and later hesitation to report due to internalized shame. If only the older Ani played Kunis were given room for as much nuance. Instead, her PTSD is shown as manifesting through hamfisted visions of blood, of stabbing her fiance (whose elite social status continually reminds her of her rapists), and her vitriolic inner thoughts. 

Ani is also, rightfully, angry at her mother Dina ( Connie Britton ) over actions slowly revealed through the flashbacks. However, this anger manifests mostly in jabs at her mother's lower social class. Ani's wedding dress is from Saks 5th Avenue (the one on 5th Avenue!), but she makes it clear to her rich friends that her mother shops at T.J. Maxx. Even the film can't help but poke fun at Dina as she struggles to fit into the upper echelon world her daughter now inhabits, saddling her with comically high heels and lines about "Say Yes to the Dress" and poorly pronounced Italian. 

Her mother's financial situation is always in the back of Ani's mind even as a teen, as is her striver's spirit. Dina's reasoning for her daughter to attend a private school in the first place was to get her in the room with rich men. When this plan led to her assault, Dina places the blame on Ani for breaking her rules about alcohol. It's clear the lesson Ani brought into her adulthood is that privileged men will do what they want and get away scot-free, unless she evens the playing field. Where there could have been a critique of class, there is instead still an aspirational desire to be one of the elites. As if only rich men are capable of bad behavior. 

It's also never clear exactly what kind of writer Ani wanted to be before writing "skanky" stuff, as her boss LoLo ( Jennifer Beals ) calls her beat, at this women's magazine. Her striving desire to have her writing in an old establishment like the New York Times comes from the same place as wanting to marry into an old family so that people know they don't just "have money, they came from money." Again, there's a missed opportunity to really explore class and power dynamics, but also to explore gender dynamics in the media world beyond a surface level. 

After being sidelined for most of the film, Beals returns and gives Ani a pep talk about "authenticity" and the importance of exposing everyone in her life that didn't help her as a teenager. This pushes her to finally tell her side of the story in her own words. Ordinarily this moment in a film would feel triumphant, but it's here you realize "Luckiest Girl Alive" has exploited both school shootings and rape trauma for a self-actualization narrative that ultimately ends with Ani finding value not in the release of her repressed emotions through this writing, but in the shallow achievement of viral fame.

Ani was a victim, sure, but so were all the kids whose lives were lost during the shooting, or were altered forever by the trauma of its aftermath. But the film is so minutely concerned with Ani's trauma only that it nearly says the deaths of the other kids was justified (it surely relishes in showing their deaths in barbaric detail). The very last scene then positions the trauma of rape victims and those afflicted by gun violence as being in competition with each other for the nation's attention and actionable change.  

A flashback to a classroom scene where Ani's sympathetic English teach Mr. Larson (an underused Scoot McNairy ) compliments her analysis of Holden Caulfield as an unreliable narrator suggests the filmmakers want us to view Ani as equally unreliable, having centered herself into this narrative. Does this then mean the film's narrow viewpoint of competing traumas is solely because it's presented the events from Ani's warped point of view? Perhaps, but it doesn't make its use of a school shooting as a background for her personal journey any less callous. 

On Netflix today.

Marya E. Gates

Marya E. Gates is a freelance film and culture writer based in Los Angeles and Chicago. She studied Comparative Literature at U.C. Berkeley, and also has an overpriced and underused MFA in Film Production. Other bylines include Moviefone, The Playlist, Crooked Marquee, Nerdist, and Vulture. 

• Mila Kunis as Ani FaNelli
• Finn Wittrock as Luke Harrison
• Scoot McNairy as Andrew Larson
• Chiara Aurelia as Young Ani
• Thomas Barbusca as Arthur Finnerman
• Justine Lupe as Nell Rutherford
• Alexandra Beaton as Hilary Hitchinson
• Connie Britton as Dina
• Gage Munroe as Peyton Powell
• Alexandra Beaton as Hilary Hutchinson
• Nicole Huff as Olivia Kaplan

Cinematographer

• Colin Watkinson

Writer (novel)

• Jessica Knoll
• Linda Perry
• Mike Barker
• Nancy Richardson

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Luckiest Girl Alive Reviews

Skilfully adapted for the screen from her 2015 novel of the same name, Jessica Knoll has brought contemporary concerns alive in a harrowingly thrilling film.

Full Review | Oct 4, 2023

This movie just doesn't quite work...It felt like a very fashionable Hallmark movie.

Full Review | Original Score: 6.5 | Aug 10, 2023

Luckiest Girl Alive is able to tie everything up with a neat bow at the end because nothing was ever unpacked to begin with. This latest Netflix Original is sensationalized trauma packaged neatly for the true-crime-obsessed crowd.

Full Review | Jul 24, 2023

Some tighter editing, a deeper script and short run-time would've worked in the movies favour, but what we were delivered was a tough yet enjoyable watch that does what it says on the tin.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 24, 2023

Much of the film almost comes across as a forgettable CW drama. ... [Mila] Kunis is certainly a talented actress, but the material for this film was simply not endearing enough to make it memorable for its audience.

Full Review | Jun 16, 2023

Luckiest Girl Alive delivers a heartbreakingly real feeling story about just how coldly the world can be to someone who has survived traumatic events.

Full Review | Jan 4, 2023

Seen as a clarifying film about the silences that usually surround abuse or as a shooter elegy –whichever it is, affirmative capitalism is the one that ends up triumphant– what remains of Luckiest girl alive is the idea of ​​something uncomfortably bland.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/10 | Nov 5, 2022

Mila Kunis is good but not good enough to make this movie anything better than average entertainment.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/10 | Oct 20, 2022

there’s a decent film in here somewhere about trauma’s ripple effects and people’s coping mechanisms. ... [But] As a thriller, the jolts just aren’t there, and ginning up those elements saps Ani’s journey of emotional weight.

Full Review | Oct 20, 2022

Luckiest Girl Alive throws a miniseries worth of ideas into a lacklustre movie.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Oct 19, 2022

Messily (and almost irresponsibly) waffles between tones, and would perhaps have benefited from embracing the black comedy genre it dives into at first... [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Oct 17, 2022

It all adds up. But the result isn't always more, sometimes it adds up to less. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Oct 17, 2022

For Kunis, “Luckiest Girl Alive” marks her career acting zenith. In her performance that’s not all that far removed from her Oscar-nominated turn in the equally unnerving “The Black Swan,” Kunis never attempts to soften or sand-down Ani’s rougher edges.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Oct 17, 2022

The film has a somewhat discursive start before coming together to deliver a very potent second half.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 15, 2022

Some of the sequences are difficult to watch at times. But with great storytelling and exceptional performances from both Kunis and Aurelia, it is definitely a film worth watching.

Full Review | Oct 14, 2022

Sometimes irritatingly confusing and redundant. Yet it remains engrossing and, in the end, compelling, even if the way it wraps things up is rather obvious and self-congratulatory.

Full Review | Original Score: B- | Oct 13, 2022

After a chaotic opening stanza, Luckiest Girl Alive has plenty going for it.

Full Review | Oct 12, 2022

These are important issues and, even if the narrative is drawn out, director Mike Barker's approach has both gripping tension and resonant commentary that deserves to strike a nerve.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Oct 12, 2022

This emotionally taxing film is likely to spark debate about the portrayal of both sexual and school violence and its repercussions, and Kunis' compelling lead performance drives that portrayal.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 12, 2022

Amidst the rash of films using school shootings as a plot driver, this shameful exploitation of it doubles down with another horrific personal trauma all so its lead character can finally learn how to write something meaningful for the New York Times

Full Review | Original Score: 0.5/4 | Oct 12, 2022

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‘Luckiest Girl Alive’ Review: Lean In, to Outrage

Mila Kunis plays a successful career woman who faces a horrific incident from her past in this drama based on the novel by Jessica Knoll.

• Share full article

By Amy Nicholson

To become the “Luckiest Girl Alive,” a title this dramedy shellacs with sarcasm, a self-loathing magazine writer named Ani (Mila Kunis) has achieved a trifecta of status symbols: a prestigious education (acquired via scholarships), a slim body (acquired via an eating disorder), and a posh fiancé (acquired via emotional suppression). Marriage to blue-blooded Luke Harrison IV (Finn Wittrock) will cement her transformation from teenage pushover TifAni FaNelli (played in flashbacks by Chiara Aurelia) to her intimidating new identity as Ani Harrison — that is, if she can restrain herself from fantasizing about stabbing her husband-to-be in the neck.

“Snap out of it, psycho,” Ani growls in the first of many harsh monologues that run the length of the film. Her fanged narration sets us up for a makeover movie in reverse where a carb-fearing perfectionist allows herself to enjoy pizza. In part, it is that movie. But readers of Jessica Knoll’s novel of the same name, which she here adapts for the screen, know that Ani is reeling from a high school gang rape compounded by a mass shooting. These intertwined tragedies rebranded one of Ani’s abusers, played as a student by Carson MacCormac and in adulthood by Alex Barone, into a grandstanding public moralist. At the same time, her own labels make her itch: survivor, victim, villain, hero, slut. Ani wears success like a bulletproof vest, until run-ins with her mother (Connie Britton), her former teacher (Scoot McNairy) and a documentarian (Dalmar Abuzeid) force her to re-examine her facade.

Kunis’s alpha female appears at once ferocious and like a conspicuous sham. (Imagine Sheryl Sandberg as a “Scooby-Doo” villain.) Her performance carries the film — a fortunate break for the director Mike Barker, who has the near-impossible challenge of shepherding the tone from snark to painful sincerity. Too often, Barker resorts to shooting pat scenes of Kunis staring at herself in a mirror. Yet, he and the cinematographer Colin Watkinson also capture Ani’s callous gaze in glimpses, say when a crumb on the corner of Abuzeid’s lip symbolizes her suspicion that she can’t trust this klutz as her mouthpiece.

It’s initially baffling that Knoll pointedly sets the film in 2015, the year her book was published. (What for? A one-liner about Hillary Clinton winning the presidency?) Still, Knoll took another year to speak openly about how Ani’s trauma overlaps with her own, and today, her script serves as a reminder of that recent history right before #MeToo, when strength passed for healing and misogyny hid behind a smile that sneered, Can’t you take a joke ?

“Yes,” Ani might counter — and she’s absorbed so many punch lines that, like the culture at large, she’s poised to explode.

Luckiest Girl Alive Rated R for sexual violence and language. Running time: 1 hour 53 minutes. Watch on Netflix .

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Luckiest Girl Alive

A woman in New York, who seems to have things under control, is faced with a trauma that makes her life unravel. A woman in New York, who seems to have things under control, is faced with a trauma that makes her life unravel. A woman in New York, who seems to have things under control, is faced with a trauma that makes her life unravel.

• Mike Barker
• Jessica Knoll
• Chiara Aurelia
• Finn Wittrock
• 292 User reviews
• 70 Critic reviews
• 54 Metascore
• 2 wins & 3 nominations

Top cast 63

• Ani Fanelli

• Luke Harrison

• Andrew Larson

• Nell Rutherford

• Aaron Wickersham

• Dean Barton

• Lolo Vincent

• Arthur Finnerman

• Peyton Powell
• (as Gage Alexander McIver Munroe)

• Hilary Hutchinson

• Olivia Kaplan

• Beth Fuller

• Mrs. Harrison
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Did you know

• Trivia Lionsgate and Pacific Standard - actress Reese Witherspoon and producer Bruna Papandrea 's production company - bought the film rights to Jessica Knoll's debut novel before it had even been published. The rights were secured in April 2015, over a month before the book hit stores.
• Goofs Onscreen headlines show that Ani was in high school in the late 90s. During the flashback to Ani's high school field trip, she makes a note of witnessing a commanding woman walking on the sidewalk talking into her cell phone. This woman is speaking into a flat, rectangular smartphone that wasn't introduced until the first iPhone was released in 2007.

[first lines]

Ani Fanelli : [narrating] It's 2015, and people still act like marriage is some kind of crowing achievement for women. That is a trap that I did not fall into. I dove in head first...

• Crazy credits The title of the movie appears at the very last second of the movie.

User reviews 292

A beautiful approach to sensitive matters.

• Phantasma_the_Black
• Oct 6, 2022
• How long is Luckiest Girl Alive? Powered by Alexa
• October 7, 2022 (United States)
• United States
• Official Netflix
• La chica más afortunada del mundo
• Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• Made Up Stories
• Orchard Farm Productions
• Picturestart
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• Runtime 1 hour 53 minutes
• Dolby Digital

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‘Luckiest Girl Alive’ Review: Mila Kunis Is All That Works in a Punishing Thriller That Inflicts Cruelty on Everyone

A successful woman finds it difficult to deal when her tormented past is unearthed in this by-the-book adaptation of Jessica Knoll's 'Gone Girl' knockoff.

By Courtney Howard

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Mirrors reflect who we are, or at least how we want to appear to others. Director Mike Barker ’s “Luckiest Girl Alive” uses them as a motif throughout this tale centered on a woman whose pristine, calculated image disguises a mess of insecurities and intense psychological pain. Yet the picture portrayed in author Jessica Knoll’s adaptation of her own novel struggles with its tone, poor character construction and annoying screenwriting contrivances. Utilizing a traditionally glossy, chick-lit-retrofitted heroine as a mouthpiece for somber, serious activist sentiments isn’t so much provocative as just downright batty.

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Barker and Knoll toggle between past and present timelines with little to no ease, perhaps simulating the jarring, jagged edges of the protagonist’s bad memories being unearthed, but this interrupts narrative momentum. Character development, particularly in the cases of Luke, who’s supportive until he’s not, and Ani’s former teacher Mr. Larson (Scoot McNairy), who conveniently appears and disappears, could use a lot more finesse as the filmmakers botch their arcs. Worse, there are scant amounts of sensitivity in the reveal of Ani’s painfully disturbing ordeals. These highly emotional sequences are less riveting and more revolting as they’re primarily used to add shock value, graphically depicting their triggering subject matter.

Kunis is up to the task of portraying a multi-layered leading lady. Her droll delivery makes Ani’s passive-aggressive arrogance seem like an art form. She’s also rather nimble when a spot of levity is brought into stressful situations, as when she insults her obnoxious future aunt (Leah Pinsent) or rolls her eyes at her gauche mother (Connie Britton). Though the material severely hobbles him, Wittrock adds a modicum of depth to his one-dimensional character. Justine Jupe, who plays Ani’s blonde bestie, is also decent, if not hampered by her all-too-brief screen time.

While the story fails and the acting underwhelms, the film’s aesthetics add luster. Barker and production designer Elisa Sauve play up the thematic notion of duality, incorporating reflective surfaces that echo Ani’s dual personas. Alix Friedberg’s contemporary costume designs give characters a sophisticated sheen as an interesting juxtaposition to their messy misery. Colin Watkinson’s cinematography gifts the project with a necessary depth to the imagery. Flashbacks evoke a sullen and cold feeling not terribly far from adult Ali’s color palette, emphasizing the past and present’s connective throughline.

“Luckiest Girl Alive” reminds that not every author with a best-selling, female-led thriller can be as talented as Gillian Flynn, whose “Gone Girl” adaptation provides much of this film’s inspiration. With its superficial sentiments hinting that our harried heroine can survive and thrive if she’s willing to confront difficult truths, the film lacks a genuinely heartening pull. Because of its unwieldy aspects, primarily those shoe-horned into the climax, its simplistic conclusion draws ire instead of the inspired elation these filmmakers crave.

Reviewed online, Los Angeles, October 3, 2022. MPA Rating: R. Running time: 113 MIN.

• Production: A Netflix release of a Picturestart, Made Up Stories, Orchard Farm production. Producers: Bruna Papandrea, Jeanne Snow, Erik Feig, Lucy Kitada, Mila Kunis. Executive producers: Jessica Knoll, Mike Barker, Buddy Enright, Lisa Sterbakov, Shayne Fiske Goldner, Julia Hammer.
• Crew: Director: Mike Barker. Screenplay: Jessica Knoll, based on her novel. Camera: Colin Watkinson. Editor: Nancy Richardson. Music: Linda Perry.
• With: Mila Kunis, Finn Wittrock, Chiara Aurelia, Scoot McNairy, Justine Lupe, Dalmar Abuzeid, Jennifer Beals, Connie Britton. 

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Parents' guide to, luckiest girl alive.

• Common Sense Says
• Parents Say 1 Review
• Kids Say 2 Reviews

Common Sense Media Review

Disturbing drama has graphic violence, sex, language.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that the drama Luckiest Girl Alive , based on the book by Jessica Knoll, has graphic depictions of sexual and school violence. The main character, Ani (Mila Kunis), was the victim of both a gang rape and a deadly school shooting, both of which are shown in explicit detail. Violence…

Why Age 16+?

Graphic depictions of explosions, shootings, and stabbings in a school setting.

Teens kiss and grope. An engaged couple kiss and initiate sex. The main characte

"F--k," variations on "s--t," and "ass," "goddamn," "bitch," "bastard," "d--k,"

Teens drink alcohol, get drunk, and smoke marijuana. Drinking too much leads to

Polo, Colgate, The Today Show , The New York Times , Columbia, C

Any Positive Content?

Sometimes dealing with problems or past trauma head-on but peacefully is the bes

A woman lives a life that's superficially privileged but hides past trauma that

Ani wants in to the exclusively wealthy upper class of New York City life, value

Parents need to know that the drama Luckiest Girl Alive , based on the book by Jessica Knoll, has graphic depictions of sexual and school violence. The main character, Ani ( Mila Kunis ), was the victim of both a gang rape and a deadly school shooting, both of which are shown in explicit detail. Violence includes explosions, shootings, and stabbings in a school setting as well as flashbacks to aspects of this event and discussion of extreme bullying behavior, including one teen relieving his bowels on another. Teens drink until passing out, smoke marijuana, kiss, and grope. A gang rape is seen in explicit and violent detail (no body parts are shown). An engaged couple kiss and initiate sex. The main character is a sex writer at a women's magazine; she writes stories involving topics like oral sex, orgasms, and the clitoris. There's mention in the film of breast reductions, touching a "c--k," having a "d--k" "rode hard," sexual deviation, phallic symbols, and pubic hair. Other language includes "f--k," variations on "s--t," and "ass," "goddamn," "bitch," "bastard," "d--k," "hell," "pr--k," "slut," and more.

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Violence & Scariness

Graphic depictions of explosions, shootings, and stabbings in a school setting. Flashbacks to aspects of this event and imaginings of other similar ones. Explicit portrayal of a gang rape involving teenagers. Rape kits and morning-after pills are suggested, as is the difficult decision to report the incident. Boys taunt girls with sexual language. Description of extreme bullying behavior, including one teen relieving his bowels on another. Other bullying includes fat-shaming, slut-shaming, victim-blaming, and online threats. A suicide is suggested. A person deletes a social media post that elicited an insulting and threatening comment.

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Sex, Romance & Nudity

Teens kiss and grope. An engaged couple kiss and initiate sex. The main character is a sex writer at a women's magazine who writes stories involving topics like oral sex, orgasms, and the clitoris. There's mention in the film of breast reductions, touching a "c--k," having "d--k" "rode hard," "wet," sexual deviation, phallic symbols, and pubic hair.

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"F--k," variations on "s--t," and "ass," "goddamn," "bitch," "bastard," "d--k," "hell," "pr--k," "slut," "fat," "flabby," "weird," "idiot," "loser," "Jesus Christ" (as an exclamation), and "oh my God."

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Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Teens drink alcohol, get drunk, and smoke marijuana. Drinking too much leads to violent behavior and is also used as an excuse for that behavior. Adults drink regularly.

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Products & Purchases

Polo, Colgate, The Today Show , The New York Times , Columbia, Cartier, Scully & Scully, TJ Maxx, Saks Fifth Avenue, Cuisinart, Mac.

Positive Messages

Sometimes dealing with problems or past trauma head-on but peacefully is the best way to move forward. People should be held accountable for their past actions, no matter what they've done in the interim.

Positive Role Models

A woman lives a life that's superficially privileged but hides past trauma that she eventually must confront in her own way. Her fiancé doesn't want his own life and reputation undermined. People are seen as either über-wealthy or desiring to be so, skipping meals and lying to themselves and others in order to fit the image. Teenage boys are depicted as cruel, violent, and insecure; one grows up to try to effect positive change in part by secreting away his past. Teenagers who don't deal with their anger are seen as exploding in unhealthy ways. A girl who has been raped is blamed or called "insane." Teachers, school administrators, and parents are portrayed as sometimes caring and helpful and sometimes not.

Diverse Representations

Ani wants in to the exclusively wealthy upper class of New York City life, values her mom instilled in her by sending her to private schools so she would marry well. Her private school friends appear to be mostly (but not entirely) White, as does her social circle. A documentary filmmaker is Black.

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Where to Watch

Videos and photos.

Parent and Kid Reviews

• Parents say (1)
• Kids say (2)

Based on 1 parent review

Gratuitous sexual violence

What's the story.

LUCKIEST GIRL ALIVE lead character Ani FaNelli ( Mila Kunis ) appears to have a perfect life: A respected writer at a New York City-based women's magazine, she's about to wed a handsome and wealthy man ( Finn Wittrock ). But Ani is also very angry, and she seems to have flashbacks to violent events in her past. When a documentary filmmaker (Dalmar Abuzeid) approaches her to give an interview about her role in a school shooting incident that happened when she was a teenager ( Chiara Aurelia ), Ani is forced to confront the traumatic events of her teen years and how her role is portrayed by classmates like politician Dean Barton (Alex Barone). With the support of her editor ( Jennifer Beals ), Ani embarks on a reckoning with the past.

Is It Any Good?

This emotionally taxing film is likely to spark debate about the portrayal of both sexual and school violence and its repercussions, and Kunis' compelling lead performance drives that portrayal. Kunis plays the main character of Luckiest Girl Alive , who calls herself a "victim" rather than a "survivor," as full of barely contained rage. This comes out in scenes where she loses control of her anger as well as through a viciously cynical voice-over. Her inner monologue is full of self-shaming and name-calling, making her a character who is difficult to like until you come to understand what has made her this way (even then, she's not exactly likable, just more understandable). Kunis was a good choice -- she transforms here into a sharp-edged, intelligent ball of nerves -- and Chiara Aurelia captures the same energy as her teen self. But some of her cynicism comes across as excessive, like when she stuffs pizza into her mouth out of sight of her boyfriend after admitting she hasn't eaten lunch in six years.

The idea is that hers is a carefully curated and performative life that obfuscates severe trauma bubbling under the surface. Her divided identities are depicted in a scene from the film where she's prepping for a TV interview and her image is reflected back at her in a diversity of different mirrors. The tale is initially set up as a mystery, with hints that Kunis' Ani has committed violent acts herself in the past. Once it comes to light that as a high schooler she suffered both sexual violence and a deadly school shooting, the film begins weaving back and forth between her present and her tormented past, building up to a breakdown and a breakthrough. It's hard not to find parallels between this story and real events, like the accusations against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh during his Senate confirmation, #MeToo revelations and calls for justice, and real school shootings (so often perpetrated by young men) like Columbine. That's a lot to pack into one movie, perhaps undermining some of the intentions here (evident in Netflix's wannatalkaboutit initiative and a heavy-handed "everywoman" end scene).

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about Ani's decisions as a teenager and as an adult in Luckiest Girl Alive . Did you agree with all of the choices she makes? Why, or why not?

Why is Ani so angry, and does her anger seem to resolve at the end -- or not?

Do you think the graphic depiction of violence in this film was necessary to tell its story? Why, or why not?

This film references a website launched by Netflix to address serious topics raised in some of its films and series and to offer information and resources. Do you think it's the role or responsibility of a film distributor such as a streaming platform to provide this information? Why, or why not?

Movie Details

• On DVD or streaming : October 7, 2022
• Cast : Mila Kunis , Chiara Aurelia , Finn Wittrock
• Director : Mike Barker
• Inclusion Information : Female actors, Female writers
• Studio : Netflix
• Genre : Drama
• Topics : Book Characters , High School
• Run time : 115 minutes
• MPAA rating : R
• MPAA explanation : violent content, rape, sexual material, language throughout and teen substance use
• Last updated : September 29, 2023

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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What to watch next.

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The Accused

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Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.

'Luckiest Girl Alive' Review: Mila Kunis Delivers a Career-Best Performance

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As one character states to Mila Kunis ’ Ani at one point in Luckiest Girl Alive , “an approximation of honesty doesn’t make the cut.” It’s true. Sometimes you can only get your point across if you’re bold in how you tell your story. Throughout its entire runtime, the Netflix movie takes this statement and runs with it, and surprises you at every turn making creative decisions. True, they’re not always decisions that make for a comfortable watch, but its ruthless drive to go where it needs to go is one of this movie's strongest qualities.

Based on a New York Times best-selling novel by author Jessica Knoll (who also pens the script), Luckiest Girl Alive tells the story of a magazine writer who’s aiming to make it to the top rankings of the writing world. The more she focuses on her steadfast race to the top, however, the more complicated her personal life gets: A documentary about a traumatic event in her past is getting made, and Ani (Kunis) is the person that potential viewers are more interested in hearing speak out.

RELATED: Mila Kunis Recounts the 'That '90s Show' Scene That Made Her Incredibly Nervous

The first and most interesting choice that Luckiest Girl Alive makes is to establish Ani as an unreliable narrator. Not only is this explicitly stated in a flashback by one of Ani’s teachers, but you constantly hear Ani's voiceover contradicting a lot of what she does and says onscreen. This decision sets up a whole belief for us viewers that you can’t exactly trust this protagonist, and that belief is the cornerstone of the movie’s endgame.

Once you feel like you can’t trust the narrator, the approach to Ani’s traumatic past is taken with a grain of salt, and only as it starts to unfold do you understand the importance of believing – or not – in its main character. Of course, this makes for a great twist in the story, but more than that: It completely underscores the movie’s message. Without getting into any spoilers, it suffices to say that the movie’s flashbacks flip what you think you know about the character. We get a tiny taste of being in her shoes for good (and bitter) measure.

And then it gets scary. Luckiest Girl Alive is hardly a far cry from real-life stories sadly because in today's day and age it's not too far-fetched to think about how willing entire communities can be to believe in a girl or woman’s “bad” reputation. And in order to tip the scales just a tiny bit in their favor, some women are often forced to build up entire picture-perfect lives for people to even consider hearing their voices. On the other hand, men get the benefit of the doubt, excuses are handed to them on a silver platter, and their entire existence is perceived as nuanced – and you definitely can’t pin them to a single mistake in life, because they are much more than that.

Which leads to another clever decision of Luckiest Girl Alive . The movie plays with our perception of innocence and forgiveness by making its worst character an unquestionable victim. And while it’s pretty easy to see to what extent that label applies once we realize their actions, the same can’t be said about real life. We’re so ready to give men a slap on the wrist that when Ani states angrily in a powerful scene that she’s a victim, too, the sentence hits hard because we forget that nuance way too often.

None of the nuance in the story would be possible without its main actor, though. Mila Kunis’ performance is hypnotic, and keeps you on the edge of your seat at every turn. You never know what she’s going to do or say, and once the movie starts wrapping up and makes the core of her behavior clear, you fully understand and relate to the character. If you finish watching Luckiest Girl Alive without feeling as angry as Ani, you didn’t watch it right.

You also can’t ignore Chiara Aurelia ’s performance depicting Ani’s younger years. The young actor takes on an incredibly tough role. As the movie progresses, her character gets more and more silent, to the point at which you have to be able to see through her face to understand what’s going on in her mind, or how numb she has become to everything around her. In her storyline, there is no closure, no vindication. Aurelia nails it in every scene, most of the time without saying a word.

Mike Barker ’s directorial work is as cruel as it should be. Ultimately, the movie is a series of punches to the gut, most of which you never see coming. But Barker makes us watch it, and it doesn’t feel gratuitous or only done for shock value. From its very title, Luckiest Girl Alive sends a message that not only bears repeating but demands it. Even if sometimes the movie goes a little too far in exposing Ani’s state of mind – with Kunis' and Aurelia’s performances we certainly wouldn’t need any exposition, trust me – it reminds us that we can’t drop the ball and stop talking about how we treat and perceive women.

Luckiest Girl Alive is, plain and simple, one of the best movies of the year. It offers a career-best performance from Mila Kunis and isn’t afraid to throw salt in two giant wounds that can’t and won’t heal until we treat them with the seriousness they demand. From a narrative standpoint, it surprises and excels because it’s not interested in black-and-white characters: From its protagonist to supporting characters, everyone is flawed, and no one is let off the hook. Sometimes because it’s good for the story, other times because life’s unfair like that.

You can stream Luckiest Girl Alive now on Netflix.

Luckiest Girl Alive

Mila Kunis stars as TifAni "Ani, Fanelli, a young magazine writer who just landed a job for the New York Times whose life is seemingly all figured out until one day she happens upon ghosts from her past- opening up a decade of buried secrets that threaten to upend her entire life. Though Ani exudes confidence and success, her inner monologue reveals that she's a survivor of trauma and has endured a tremendous struggle to escape a life of fear. The film travels back and forth between present-day Ani and high-school Ani, where mysteries surrounding sexual assault and a school shooting lie at the center. Contending with those who want to keep the past buried, Ani's fury and fear will leave her new life in jeopardy as she tries to reconcile with it all. Luckiest Girl Alive had a limited theatrical run on September 30 2022, and was released to Netflix on October 7 2022.

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Luckiest Girl Alive Review: Mystery Story Tries to do it All and Fails

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'Wicked' Fans Are Already Disrupting Screenings by Singing Along With Their Favorite Tracks

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In 2022, things are slowly but surely beginning to look up when it comes to women’s representation in television and cinema. The numbers are starting to look better than what they used to be decades ago, and with that comes a slew of new work that does a much better job of capturing the feminine experience than its predecessors in the same genres. While some of these movies and shows are truly progressive in the way that they authentically women, others have not been as successful. In the era of #MeToo, films are skirting around the notions of female empowerment and revenge against the patriarchal, wealthy systems in place, and relish giving their women protagonists the chance to upend said systems. Netflix now seeks to further these conversations with the release of its newest film : Luckiest Girl Alive .

Based on a 2015 novel by the American author Jessica Knoll , the rights for the film were acquired by Lionsgate and Reese Witherspoon in the same year the novel came out. Knoll would write the screenplay for the movie, adapting her novel for the screen personally. Filmed in Toronto and New York City, the film explores the traumas and life of its main character Ani, and how she navigates trying to concoct the perfect narrative for her to live inside. Mila Kunis stars as Ani. She is joined by a cast including Finn Wittrock, Scoot McNairy, Chiara Aurelia, Thomas Barbusca, Carson MacCormac, and Justine Lupe, among many others. Luckiest Girl Alive first appeared in select theaters a week before its streaming release on Netflix.

Related: Exclusive: Luckiest Girl Alive Director Mike Barker on Adapting the Novel and Working with Mila Kunis

Discovering What One Really Wants in Life

In Luckiest Girl Alive , the facts are laid down immediately. Its protagonist is Ani, who, in the year 2015, is about to get married in six weeks. The opening scene shows her fiancé and her picking out the best cutlery, and she says to him, smirking, that they need to pick out something that isn’t dull. If this moment does not strike one as odd, it only serves as a warning for what is to come when the knives she is holding are now dripping in blood. Ani seems to live the perfect New York City life in 2015. She has a position in the editorial industry for an established magazine, is about to get married, and lives the life many dreams of when they imagine being a fashionable woman in the big city. This is not Sex and the City , though, and there is a lot of baggage in Ani’s life.

Everything about her perfect life starts to unravel when a director of a true crime documentary tracks Ani down. Up until this point, the movie suggests there is unresolved trauma in Ani’s life, as she has flashbacks whenever she holds knives, and during a quick trip on the subway, the lights go out, and she nearly has a panic attack. As she sits down across from the director in her office, he reveals the documentary’s subject is gun violence in schools, and viewers know now Ani’s high school had an incident when she was attending in 1999. The documentary has just brought on a new witness to be interviewed, and, as Ani looks him up, it turns out that he is accusing her of being involved with the shooting.

The cracks in Ani’s facade begin to fall apart after this pivotal scene. Her real name is not Ani; it is TifAni. She attended her high school, which catered to elite and wealthy students, on a writing scholarship, suggesting that she is not from wealth—unlike the persona she adopts in her New York City lifestyle. Ani changed her name to try and escape from the fallback created by the shooting, but it haunts in her everything she does. It is why she eventually agrees to join the documentary and be interviewed: she does not want to be anonymous anymore. After a woman mistakes her for someone else inside a clothing store, she makes the spontaneous decision to join the documentary to try and continue climbing in the world.

More details continue to spill out from the depths of Ani’s past. Following the trajectory of the novel the movie is based on, Ani’s memories include a gang rape led by her male classmates, leading her to become bullied and ostracized from the rest of her peers. The irony of her being an editor about sex tips furthers this horrifying detail, especially considering she was branded as a liar because she was denied any validity of what happened to her. Throughout the movie, she confronts that maybe her reality is not what she wanted. Blamed by her mother, the classmate who caused her so much harm, and the world for what had happened to her. Although the trajectory she had concocted as a high schooler looking to escape the world she was confined to now looks a lot different, Ani is learning to be okay with what the future holds.

Related: Do Revenge Review: A Story That Spins Out of Orbit

An Unbalanced Look At Its Protagonist’s Journey

At times , Luckiest Girl Alive feels like it wants to become Gone Girl, but lacks both the dramatic tension and chops to pull it off. At other times, the visuals lean more towards The Neon Demon , albeit without the horror elements of that film. The voiceover narration done by Kunis’ character hints at a more snarky, contrived nature from the very beginning, making it more obvious by the time it digs into her backstory that she is not as squeaky clean as she appears to be on the surface. The first break in her act is when her fiancé, Luke, leaves their restaurant table and Ani shoves the rest of his leftovers — a single slice of pizza — into her mouth before he comes back and sees it. And it is this moment that sets the tone for the rest of the movie, as Ani struggles with who she is — something that we, the viewers, do not get to see much of even at the very end — and the identity she has constructed to get ahead in life.

But as a movie Luckiest Girl Alive feels too hollow, too contrived. Films like The Fallout have taken the subject of school shootings and their psychology on the students involved and set the bar high for what kind of content audiences should and can expect. Other recent movies, like Netflix’s Do Revenge , also tackle the premise of elite high school bullying and what happens when certain privileged men are elevated to appear like they are championing a cause that they helped perpetuate. However, while Ani does get to enact her ultimate revenge and elevate her status by finally coming clean with what happened that fateful day, the movie’s approach depicts her as victorious and having finally found her identity. But at what cost? She admits she hurt and used people to get here, including her fiancé, and this is seen as okay because of the montage of diverse women towards the end praising her bravery.

What Ani did, by telling her story in full detail, is indeed brave. There is no denying that and the significance of victims telling their stories. But, perhaps, Luckiest Girl Alive could have found a better balance with balancing out Ani’s internal identity crisis and the story of what happened to her. Her act of revenge ultimately ends up feeling rushed in the film’s final arc, leaving a whirlwind of emotion, talk shows, and the people, including Ani’s mother, that were left behind in her redemption arc. Ani’s rise to getting what she wanted, to begin with, is marked with tragedy and the stains of death and despair, but viewers are denied the opportunity to see the impacts of what this really looks like outside of people singing her praise and criticizing her for having fifteen minutes of fame.

Luckiest Girl Alive offers a promising take on some of the most horrific events many women and youths face today but ultimately fails in its execution. Kunis does an incredible job slipping into the character of Ani, really tapping into the crises this young woman faces as she approaches a new chapter in her life. But, by the end of the day, this story would have been done justice if it was allowed more time and room to breathe in a miniseries. In its current form, it feels a tad sensationalized and not enough to keep one wanting to watch it further, and begins like it is simply too much.

Luckiest Girl Alive is available to stream on Netflix as of October 7, 2022.

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