Noah Centineo (left) and Kristine Froseth
Three weeks after the release of “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before,” 22-year-old rom-com sensation Noah Centineo is set to make hopeless romantics swoon again in “Sierra Burgess is a Loser,” which begins streaming on Netflix today.
In director Ian Samuels’ loose retelling of “Cyrano de Bergerac,” Noah is cast as hunky high school quarterback Jamey, the object of straight-A student Sierra Burgess’ (Shannon Purser of “Stranger Things”) affection.
When cheerleader Veronica (Kristine Froseth) gives Sierra’s number to Jamey as an act of spite, Sierra ends up becoming Jamey’s text mate under false pretenses—he thinks she’s Veronica!
Sierra isn’t really into jocks, but after a four-hour “talkathon” with Jamey on the phone, she finds herself smitten with the clueless jock, who turns out to be as kindhearted as he is dreamy.
Shannon Purser in “Sierra Burgess is a Loser”
She may be funny, smart, musically talented and Stanford-bound, but Sierra knows only too well that bullied overweight girls rarely get the popular boys’ attention. But, why can’t she enjoy the catfishing ruse and bask in Veronica’s reflected glory a little while longer? After all, it isn’t every day that she gets sent shirtless selfies from gorgeous guys like Jamey.
Don’t get us wrong: Sierra is no crybaby. But, while she has low self-esteem issues like a lot of teenagers, she doesn’t suffer fools gladly. In fact, barely six minutes into the film’s one-hour and 45-minute running time, Sierra plucks up the courage to answer one of Veronica’s stinging insults.
As a result, Sierra ends up forging a secret “partnership” with the school’s meanest but less-than-bright beauty, who masks her insecurities with the put-downs she hurls at easy-to-harass “school rejects,” like the film’s “fat and frumpy” heroine.
It doesn’t take long before Veronica reveals her biggest insecurities to her newfound BFF: Veronica wants to win back Spence (Will Peltz), the college freshman who recently dumped her, by sounding smarter.
The film reminded us of Theodore Boborol’s mistaken identity rom-com “Vince & Kath & James,” starring Joshua Garcia, Julia Barretto and Ronnie Alonte. It’s fizzy, predictable and entertaining. And despite its bleaker and meaner final act, it isn’t a bad way to make your boring nights more eventful.