Leo Borlock (Graham Verchere) is an average student at Mica High School. He gets decent grades, is a member of the school's marching band and has always been content flying under the radar. But all that changes when he meets Stargirl Caraway (Grace VanderWaal), a confident and colorful new student with a penchant for the ukulele, who stands out in a crowd. She is kind, finds magic in the mundane and touches the lives of others with the simplest of gestures. Her eccentricities... (Full plot summary below)
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Leo Borlock (Graham Verchere) is an average student at Mica High School. He gets decent grades, is a member of the school's marching band and has always been content flying under the radar. But all that changes when he meets Stargirl Caraway (Grace VanderWaal), a confident and colorful new student with a penchant for the ukulele, who stands out in a crowd. She is kind, finds magic in the mundane and touches the lives of others with the simplest of gestures. Her eccentricities and infectious personality charm Leo and the student body, and she quickly goes from being ignored and ridiculed to accepted and praised, then back again, sending Leo on a roller-coaster ride of emotions. A celebration of individuality, kindness and the power of the human spirit, "Stargirl" is directed by Julia Hart from a screenplay by Kristin Hahn and Julia Hart and Jordan Horowitz based on the novel by Jerry Spinelli. The film stars singer/songwriter Grace VanderWaal in her film debut, Graham Verchere, Karan Brar, Maximiliano Hernandez, Darby Stanchfield and Giancarlo Esposito. "Stargirl" is produced by Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, p.g.a., Lee Stollman, p.g.a., and Kristin Hahn, p.g.a., with Jordan Horowitz, Jim Powers, Jerry Spinelli, Eddie Gamarra, Catherine Hardwicke and Jonathan Levin as executive producers.
Leave your thoughts about Stargirl.
| Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperNearly every step of the way, Stargirl finds just the right notes to find the right side of the line between precious and lovely, between arbitrary and plausible, between serendipitous and condescendingly magical. |
| IndieWireJude DryHart guides the actions with a sensitive and joyous hand, luxuriating in the palette of Arizona’s arid desert and gaping badlands. |
| Film ThreatAlan NgIf you persevere, Stargirl will grow on you and ultimately pays off. |
| Vanity FairRichard LawsonThere’s something sweetly clumsy about how Stargirl invites us back in time, to twenty years ago, when such a made-up person might have surprised and delighted us. Stargirl is a strange but not unwelcome reminder of that fact. How quaint of us. How quirky, really. |
| The New York TimesJason BaileyStargirl was published twenty years ago, and its age occasionally shows in this adaptation; some of the story beats and character qualities (particularly those of the rather precious title character) have congealed into cliché. But Hart (who wrote the screenplay with Kristin Hahn and Jordan Horowitz) is such an enchanting filmmaker, her storytelling style so warm and welcoming, that those concerns fade. |
| Los Angeles TimesMichael OrdonaThe story is struck from a familiar template: inactive protagonist, dead parent, worries about popularity, a regional competition looming. But the film distinguishes itself from there, largely due to the direction of “Fast Color’s” Julia Hart. |
| VarietyCourtney HowardWhile it suffers from a rocky beginning with burdensome amounts of kook and quirk, the unfolding spell it subtly casts holds profundity and wisdom. |
| SlashfilmJosh SpiegelStargirl is a slight, but cute teen dramedy. |
| Slant MagazineSteven ScaifeIt comes across like yet another casualty in the long line of stories about men having their eyes opened by their angelic girlfriends. |
| PolygonPetrana RadulovicThe plot about being true to yourself is still relevant, but Stargirl addresses it at a surface level, without ever really going beyond the main character’s mildly quirky aesthetic. |
