A teenage special ops agent coveting a "normal" adolescence fakes her own death and enrolls in a suburban high school. She quickly learns that surviving the treacherous waters of high school... Read allA teenage special ops agent coveting a "normal" adolescence fakes her own death and enrolls in a suburban high school. She quickly learns that surviving the treacherous waters of high school is more challenging than international espionage.A teenage special ops agent coveting a "normal" adolescence fakes her own death and enrolls in a suburban high school. She quickly learns that surviving the treacherous waters of high school is more challenging than international espionage.
- Heather (8)
- (as Eva Cooper)
- Parker Larson
- (as Jason Ian Drucker)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe film was originally rated R, but the filmmakers appealed without having to cut or edit any scenes.
- GoofsMegan is shown watching DVD and Blu-Ray discs of teen movies and TV shows on a 2012 (or newer) Apple MacBook Pro. This model has no internal DVD or BluRay optical drive.
- Quotes
Megan Walsh: She better bring fire! She better bring thunder! She better bring hell! Just tell her to bring it before 10:30, I've got a curfew.
- ConnectionsFeatured in The Great Canadian Supercut (2017)
- SoundtracksYou Don't Know Me
Music & Lyrics by The Rumor Mill (ASCAP)
-Written by The Rumor Mill
Performed by The Rumor Mill featuring Chetti
Published by Tubby & The Spaniard Music Publishing (ASCAP)
Courtesy of Rumor Mills Records
In Barely Lethal, 16 year-old Megan Walsh (not her real name) is a trained international assassin. This premise already engages interest and holds so much potential, but it fails to deliver a satisfying result. The problem begins when Megan leaves the academy where little girls are trained to become assassins. She fakes her death and enrolls herself in a suburban highschool, hoping everything is going to be normal. Only it turns out it isn't as easy as it seems. From here, the trajectory of the narrative disappoints immensely. It begins undermining the capacity of its lead character by dismissing the fact that she is a trained killer, exposing her vulnerabilities and teenage dramas, instead. This isn't a totally a insane idea, she's 16-year old, after all. But getting further dragged by bland one liners and intertwining subplots, makes it even worse. Eventually, in the wake of its competing concerns, it loses grip of its own direction and struggles to arrive to a decent endpoint. It also doesn't succeed tapping the utmost otential of its strong supports by not giving them enough material to work with. Jessica Alba and Samuel Jackson barely do something here, though there may be some little moments with their presence, that aren't really devoid of wit. Almost everything just falls flat, and the comic effort couldn't provide any aid, either, to redeem its sagging narrative.
By the time the movie is already fast approaching its finale, it isn't any more surprise if Megan never came close to any of those heroines mentioned earlier, and it really disappoints that she never really came to be someone interesting, either. Well, you may want to blame that to her unconvincing chemistry (not saying there's any) with both her love interests, and a boring villain whose presence may have only really felt during the last action sequence of the movie.
BARELY LETHAL wastes almost every promising attribute it has to live up to its overwhelming potential. In the end, it abandons what could be a unique take on the young espionage genre, and sets itself taking the leads of countless others it seems to emulate. The result is barely fulfilling.
- prospectus_capricornium
- Apr 29, 2015
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official sites
- Language
- Also known as
- Đặc Vụ Ku-te
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $15,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $6,075
- Gross worldwide
- $933,847
- Runtime1 hour 36 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1