WATCH AT HOME
HOW TO BUILD A GIRL (15)
★★★★☆
IN 1990s Wolverhampton, teenage misfit Johanna Morrigan (Beanie Feldstein, pictured) runs a gauntlet of insecurities after she recites a poem on live TV about life on a working-class housing estate with her dogbreeding father Pat (Paddy Considine), exhausted mother Angie (Sarah Solemani) and four siblings.
Her brother Krissi (Laurie Kynaston) encourages her to apply for a writing job with London-based music magazine D&ME. Sneering “posh boy” Tony (Frank Dillane) and his chums hire Johanna to pen a review of a Manic Street Preachers gig in Birmingham and gradually mould her into their bile-spewing mascot: Dolly Wilde.
“It’s just like Pygmalion but with a real pig,” cruelly observe the magazine’s editors as Johanna abandons her moral compass and family loyalties in pursuit of fame, culminating in a shocking betrayal of trust following a tender interview with melancholic balladeer John Kite (Alfie Allen).
Adapted by Caitlin Moran from her semiautobiographical novel, How To Build A Girl is a spiky coming-of-age story that gallops down a haphazard path towards one young woman’s personal and sexual awakening.
Feldstein continues to mine a rich vein of comedic form after her star-confirming turn in Booksmart. She delivers another powerhouse performance that breathlessly captures the beautifully flawed facets of a heroine in search of her identity.
Her wayward Midlands accent is a mild distraction during heartfelt family scenes, particularly during Johanna’s bruising fall from grace. However, awkwardly strangled vowels can’t tarnish director Coky Giedroyc’s assured work capturing the moodiness of the era.
■ Exclusively on Amazon Prime Video.
THE KISSING BOOTH 2 (12)
★★★★☆
IN 2018, Netflix released the gooey teen romance The Kissing Booth based on the novel penned by Beth Reekles.
Two years later, Vince Marcello returns to the director’s chair for a sequel based on Reekles’ second book, which he has adapted for the screen with Jay Arnold.
In the first film, high school student Elle Evans (Joey King, pictured) fell madly in love with reformed bad boy Noah Flynn (Jacob Elordi) and declared her love before he left for Harvard.
In the follow-up, Elle returns to school for her senior year and hopes to maintain a long-distance relationship with Noah.
The thorny issue of trust arises when Noah grows close to pretty college student Chloe (Maisie Richardson-Sellers) and Elle bonds with new classmate Marco (Taylor Zakhar Perez).
As hormones rage, Elle must decide to whom her heart belongs as she pursues a place at her dream college with dutiful best friend Lee (Joel Courtney). ■ Exclusively on Netflix.