TALL GIRL 2 -- An Unnecessary Sequel That's No Better Than the Original

Review by Camden Ferrell

​Tall Girl 2 is a sequel to the 2019 Netflix original film. It features the original cast and is helmed by director Emily Ting whose most recent movie was the 2019 comedy Go Back to China. This new movie doesn’t do much to improve on its poorly made predecessor, but it does try and take itself a little more seriously this time around.
 
After the events of the first movie, Jodi is now feeling confident in her school despite being abnormally tall. She is admired and popular, and she is now dating her childhood best friend. However, after she gets the lead role in the school play, she experiences new insecurities as she continues to navigate relationships with her friends and family. One of the few improvements of this sequel is that the premise goes beyond Jodi being upset about her height, and this has the potential to be great with the right script and execution.
 
Unfortunately, the writing is almost identical in quality to the first movie. It’s full of awkward and unnatural dialogue that doesn’t reveal much about its characters. The plot is by the numbers, and there’s no unpredictability or subversion at all. It doesn’t do anything new with its plot structure, and it’s beat by beat similar to countless other movies.

As mentioned before, the original cast returns to reprise their roles. While the leading ensemble consisting of Ava Michelle, Griffin Gluck, and Sabrina Carpenter wasn’t great in the original, like most other things in this movie, the quality stays consistent. These actors have very little chemistry and don’t seem particularly invested in the story they are trying to tell.
 
One of the key differences with this movie is it tries to be more serious and earnest in its themes and story. This is seen in how it cheekily jabs at the first movie’s premise early on. However, this brief self-awareness doesn’t absolve it of committing the same mistakes as the original. It has real teen problems, but it doesn’t know how to work with those issues to create a compelling story or message.
 
Tall Girl 2 is a movie that will appeal to fans of the original and not much else. It feels very similar in style and quality to its predecessor, failing to improve on many of the movie’s shortcomings the first time around. Most will find this to be an unnecessary sequel that is more or less an unpleasing way to spend an hour and a half this Valentine’s weekend.
 
Tall Girl 2 is streaming on Netflix February 11.
 
Rating: 1.5/5