Barely Lethal Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		2.5

Barely Lethal Blu-ray Movie Review

Teen grit.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 3, 2015

Barely Lethal begins whimsically enough, with a clever animated credits sequence which details (however discursively) the film’s basic premise that there’s a super secret training academy for spies made up of abandoned orphans who have been placed in the institution from the time they were babies. Typical childhood pursuits like ballet are seemingly referenced in these playful illustrations, only to have the camera track back to reveal a pirouette is actually part of a violent butt kicking. The little girls of the so-called Prescott Academy are taught from the earliest age that attachments of any kind are dangerous, and that includes a name. Instead, the girls are numbered, and Agent 83 (Hailee Steinfeld) narrates a brief montage which shows that, while she’s incredibly well skilled in a number of espionage techniques, she’s also far from happy in the rigorous, anti-emotional atmosphere of Prescott. She also tends to regularly provoke the umbrage of her roommate, Agent 84 (Sophie Turner), as well as the ire of her martinet trainer and mentor, Hardman (Samuel L. Jackson). When a nefarious villain named Victoria Knox (Jessica Alba) is spotted in Chechnya after years of having successfully hidden herself underground, Hardman launches a rendition mission with Agent 83 in charge. Agent 83 has no big problem “capturing” Knox, but as the two are being hoisted back toward the Prescott Academy’s flying fortress, Knox cuts Agent 83 loose from a tether and fires several shots in her direction. Knox may indeed now be in captivity, but Agent 83 is nowhere to be found—by her own design. Realizing very quickly that this unexpected turn of events has opened a door toward a potential “normal” life, Agent 83 doesn’t return the frantic communications from Hardman, throwing away her tracking watch, while Hardman informs Agent 84 to mark Agent 83 down as “inactive.”

John D’Arco’s screenplay is not exactly a model of logic, and so what happens next simply needs to be taken at face value and not questioned too intensely, as it is the fulcrum upon which the rest of the plot hinges. Agent 83 adopts the alter ego of one Megan Walsh and supposedly arranges for herself to be an exchange student who is placed with middle America’s Larson family. (How a kid could do this herself is never really explained, though it’s of course assumed that Megan has all sorts of “special skills” which might allow her to hack various systems, as in fact is detailed somewhat later in the film.) Megan thinks she can matriculate into a normal teenage life and experience high school from the vantage point of a typical everyday adolescent. Unfortunately her sum total of “experience” in this regard is her obsessive viewing of old properties like Heathers and Beverly Hills, 90210. While Megan is welcomed with open arms by Mrs. Larson (Rachael Harris) and new little brother Parker (Jason Ian Drucker), her putative sister Liz (Dove Cameron) is obviously less than thrilled to have a new peer in her midst.

It’s at this point that Barely Lethal tends to stop being a send up of both spy and teen movies and falls more comfortably into a well established rut of an outsider kid trying to make her way in an unfamiliar and apparently hostile environment. Megan’s life at high school is fraught with typical embarrassments like wearing the wrong clothes or dealing with both mean girls and abrasive jocks, and while the film offers occasional surprises as things unfold, most of this part of Barely Lethal plays more or less exactly like the type of film that should seemingly be the target of satire instead of tired rehashing.

Megan finds herself torn between two potential boyfriends. There’s the big man on campus, Cash Fenton (Toby Sebastian), not a jock per se but the school’s most popular guy who fronts a band called the Emotacons. When Cash “rescues” Megan from a devastating appearance at a school assembly and then launches into a tune with his buddies that provokes a near American Idol response of screaming females, Megan thinks she may found Mr. Right. However, there’s also the geeky Roger (Thomas Mann), a kid on the A-V “team” who shares Megan’s love for puns. Three guesses how this particular plot strand unfolds, and the first two don’t count.

Things pick up a bit of steam as the film trundles toward its third act, with a number of more action elements added to the mix when both Knox and Agent 84, now cheekily renamed Heather, reenter the picture, along with Hardman, who may not actually be that hard after all (in yet another predictable plot arc). The film veers rather wildly in tone, working in a couple of hyperkinetic fight and chase sequences while also trying to establish an emotional tether around the idea that all Megan wants is a little peace and quiet in a relatively normal family. It’s a promising if not exactly innovative premise, but Barely Lethal doesn’t seem to know exactly which angle is best to fully detail both elements. As a result, the film is more of a hodgepodge than an organic whole. Performances are generally quite winning, but the film has a rather tired and musty ambience a lot of the time.

Barely Lethal Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Barely Lethal is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films and A24 with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. This is a fairly underwhelming looking presentation, at least when one considers it's a new film shot digitally with a Red Epic. While there's nothing ostensibly "wrong" here, the image is often rather flat and soft looking, two elements not helped by some less than convincing green screen and CGI elements. The palette is one of this transfer's more charming aspects, however, and everything from bright girlish pinks to some very vivid primaries helps to enliven the proceedings. There's a fair amount of murk in dimly lit scenes, as in the first assembly scene backstage where Megan meets Roger. As should probably be expected, brightly lit scenes, especially those taking place out of doors, pop quite well and offer better overall sharpness and especially fine detail. There are occasional very light smatterings of noise in some of the darker scenes, but nothing that's overly problematic.

Barely Lethal Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Barely Lethal's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is an often quite boisterous affair, from the opening montage of kids learning to do things like maraud around in high speed Chevys or learn to operate various weaponry. The action elements which pop up more or less as bookends in the film offer the best immersion, with well placed sound effects dotting the surrounds and helping to create a very lifelike ambience. Quieter dialogue moments are well rendered but fairly narrow in presentation. Dynamic range is extremely wide throughout the film, and there's some very fulsome LFE at various moments which should please those who like to hear (and/or see) their floorboards rattling.

Barely Lethal Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary with Director Kyle Newman and Actors Dove Cameron and Thomas Mann isn't fantastically informative from a technical standpoint, but is enjoyable in a low key conversational kind of way. There's a bit of self congratulatory dialogue at times, but at least they spread the love around to those not included on the commentary.


• Back to School: On the Set of Barely Legal (1080p; 10:45) is an EPK with some enjoyable interviews.


• Deleted Scenes (1080p; 6:49)

Barely Lethal Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Kind of like Megan herself, Barely Lethal doesn't seem to know what (or whom) it wants to be. The film works in dribs and drabs, and is buoyed by some generally quite winning performances, but it never rises to any appreciable heights. Fans of the cast may well want to check this out, as it's not objectionable in any major way, even if it fails to hit any sustained high notes. For those who are considering a purchase, technical merits are generally strong, though I was a bit underwhelmed by the video presentation.