Moderately entertaining action-comedy about a teenage girl trained as an assassin who masquerades as an exchange student so she can have a typical high-school experience. "Barely Lethal" does very well with its youth casting, led by Hailee Steinfeld as Megan, the assassin "from Canada." It falls down on some of the adult roles, particularly Dan Fogler and Rob Huebel, who seem like they're too focused on their improv techniques to care about what movie they're in. In fact, the whole film could have done less with the adults in the cast, even those who do good jobs like Rachel Harris as the mother in Megan's host family and Samuel L. Jackson as the quasi- government overseer of the assassin school, in favor of spending more time with the kids. This is a teen comedy that de-emphasizes the teens too much, and turns most of the adults into perfunctory and ineffectual comic relief. The film gets in its own way too often, almost as if the screenplay and direction didn't have enough trust in the high-school story it could have told. The result feels disjointed, rushed and incomplete -- it feels like a lot was left on the cutting-room floor, and it doesn't spend enough time building the emotional investment it wants the characters and the audience to have.
Despite these problems, there is just enough here to keep it watchable and engaging enough. The action is underwhelming, even though it seems to have had an adequate budget (and more producers, executive producers and associate producers than far bigger productions), but not amateurish. Overall, this seems like it could have been a lot better than the diverting 96 minutes it turns out to be.
Despite these problems, there is just enough here to keep it watchable and engaging enough. The action is underwhelming, even though it seems to have had an adequate budget (and more producers, executive producers and associate producers than far bigger productions), but not amateurish. Overall, this seems like it could have been a lot better than the diverting 96 minutes it turns out to be.