HOW TO BUILD A GIRL (2019, GBR) Movie review, plot, trailer

This coming-of-age humorous drama was filmed that takes us to an English province in the early 1990s based on the novel of the same name, written in part by British journalist and writer Caitlin Moran. Moran also wrote the screenplay based on her own book, and in “How to Build a Girl” we follow the story of 16-year-old Johanne Morrigan who lives with her family in a city apartment in Wolverhampton. Johanna (played by chubby American actress Beanie Feldstein, Jonah Hill’s sister) is one of those somewhat strange and withdrawn girls that no one hangs out with, and she’s looking forward to something happening in her life. She dreams of becoming a writer, her imaginary friends are celebrities whose posters cover the walls of her room, and after accidentally discovering during a literary competition that her family is illegally raising dogs, she decides to start making money for the family.

But in order to succeed in this, this withdrawn, clumsy and typically cinematically clumsy girl will have to create an alter-ego, so she will turn into Dolly Wilde, her very opposite. She will start working as a critic for a music magazine, and after she became extremely popular thanks to hater and saliva lyrics, she will slowly begin to realize that she has created a real monster. In the end, “How to Build a Girl” was one of those completely typical, almost stereotypical coming-of-age films about ugly ducklings (literally or symbolically) that will turn into swans filmed according to some formula. But Johanna’s swan will spread its wings so much that it will really be a little lacking to turn into a monster, and in the end everything was predictable, sweet and a bit docile. There are also some relatively famous faces in supporting roles, such as Paddy Considine, who plays Johanna’s father, breeder Border Colli and a dreamer who still has not given up the illusion that one day he will become a pop star from whom Johanna apparently picked up a lot of genetic material. 

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