A Sunflower in a Garden of Roses

Kiana Carlyn A. Silang

8- St. Lorenzo

Sierra Burgess is a Loser, a Netflix original romantic comedy that takes on a vibrant high
school identity but a ‘not- so-fairytale’ like love story. Netflix’s newly released teen romantic
movie follows the story of a bookish and unpopular girl named Sierra Burgess who struggles to
apply for a recommendation into her dream school and in a quest of finishing the line, “Sierra
Burgess is a…” A simple text changed her ordinary world upside down. Simple texts with
Jamey, a quarterback from another school and a complete stranger to Sierra, turned into a
friendly-flirty conversation. However, Jamey thinks that he’s talking to a cheerleader named
Veronica who goes to the same school as Sierra. The success of Sierra Burgess is a Loser
wouldn’t have been made possible without the help of its well-chosen cast, Shannon Purser from
yet another Netflix original, Riverdale, the star of To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before, Noah
Centineo and Kristine Froseth.

The film tackles on different issues and angles that are relatively timely to teenagers
today. The movie revolved around phone calls and texts conversations that remind us that
technology has the power of connection and deception, how it enables people to show their best
and worst selves. As for this particular film, Ian Samuels thinks that this kind of communication
is exciting because of the amount of distance between two connecting parties and how will they
cope up with this kind of set up. Samuels mostly focused on the reaction of the actors’ whenever
a message pops up rather than the message itself. Great responsibility comes with the mysterious
mistaken identity developing thing between the characters. As the possibility rises up that the
viewers wouldn’t easily accept the cat-fishing, manipulative act put on Jamey (Noah Centineo)
and how poorly they lied to him. Though, this was given justice when Sierra made up for all her
shortcomings as a friend and an admirer.

Looking deeper than just the deceptive love story concept of the movie, the leads showed
different characteristics and made numerous approaches to viewers than just sticking to one.
Dealing with different teenage dramas like insecurities, falling in love and pressure, Sierra
Burgess Is a Loser established a positive remark on people. As a daughter of an achiever, Sierra
is a legacy student with straight A’s as her parents wants her to be. Veronica on the other hand, is
expected to be the popular queen B who ditches losers. Jamey finds his intellectual and
humorous side as he came across the two girls. Together, they healed the wounds of friendships
and companionship of one another. Additional character who added up to the great storyline of
the film is RJ Cyler’s role as Sierra’s best friend who made the smallest scenes seem energetic
and funny. As for Noah Centineo, he continues to make a name in Hollywood as a rom-com
king, Shannon Purser is something of a revelation with her effortless inner strength and how
powerful her acting was.

Sierra Burgess Is a Loser ended with a song composed by Sierra herself entitles
Sunflower. “But I'm a sunflower, a little funny. If I were a rose, maybe you'd pick me.” Surely
the movie conveyed a message ------ every one of us is a loser as what Jamey told, everyone has
their own story to tell as shown by Veronica and be a sunflower in this world of roses, stand out
and be different as delivered by Sierra Burgess, the true sunflower.