Luckiest Girl Alive brings Ani’s story to the screen who happens to be a survivor of a gruesome school shooting and now works as an editor in a women’s magazine in the New York City. Her past has shadowed her present for far too long and now, she is trying to carve out a niche of her own in the competitive publishing world.
Tiffani “Ani” Fanelli is 30-something independent woman who has planned her career in greater details and is willing to go even greater lengths to achieve that success. She is the perfect example of a modern young woman with a successful career, a handsome fiancé- Luke Harrison and an impending nuptials opening doors to the coveted high society of the New York City. Indeed, she is the Luckiest Girl Alive. That’s what everyone thinks and even that’s what she believes, but is it true? Does she believe so or has she convinced herself in believing it?
Thus we are introduced to a teenaged Ani; pushed around by her mother, entering into a prestigious school with dreams in her eyes.
Somehow, things don’t go as planned and she ends up crawling in a school corner, protecting herself from the school shooting. But what has happened? And how this is all related to Ani or rather what had happened to her? For answers to all these questions, it’s interesting to watch this movie streaming currently on the Netflix.
It’s no denying the fact that what happens to Ani in her schooldays is violent and traumatic. However, the screenplay and direction has somehow failed to give justice to this reality. All those vicious things leading up to the school shootings are portrayed realistically by the actors but overall the treatment given to the story fails to connect with the audiences’s emotions. That lacklustre effect then carries on towards present day Ani’s realisation and revenge.
The viewers are certainly horrified by the reality behind Ani’s fake smiles and caricature profile.But they need to find connections with Mr. Larson, confronting Dean Barton and then confessing in her article. Somehow somewhere this heartbreaking story gets lost in the narrative and its limited execution.
Based on the namesake book and screenplay written by Jessica Knoll, the basic storyline definitely has some interesting twists and turns which not necessarily translate to the screen. Still, it’s appreciated for bringing such a difficult topic to the screen and for that reason only, it’s worth for one time watch.