When a young girl decides to
choreograph her own coming-of-age story, she ultimately turns her back on
everyone and everything she has ever known. But in a fight to gain notice from her single mom, Ansiedad
feels that the sacrifices are worth it.
With unexpected pain and suffering brewing for the next chapter, our
young protagonist is about to learn a hard lesson in growing up.
Starring the always beautiful
Eva Mendes and newcomer Cierra Ramirez, Girl in Progress is, for a lack
of better words, a work in progress.
Starting off strong and featuring a quite original story, the film
ultimately showcases its limited budget as it fails to materialize into
anything of substance.
Ramirez, who plays our
leading lady Ansiedad, is unable to ignite much interest as I never felt a
connection of any kind to the lonely character who desperately wants to leave
the age of youthful adolescence. Her
actions seem desperate, and while she has the plan mapped out to near
perfection, her mom's failure to pick up on the gimmick is a bit insulting to
her intelligence.
Mendes was hardly ever a
representation of an 'absent' parent, but rather one that failed to acknowledge
semi-important school achievements.
Not to mention my constant confusion as to whether her career
aspirations of one day managing her own Red Lobster rip-off restaurant were
meant to be seen as a joke or not.
I wanted to laugh but wasn't sure if that was its intention as the story
appeared to be searching for its own identity throughout much of the 90-minute
run time.
I will give the film credit
for an ending that, though overly cliché, did hold a punch. The film itself will be much more
relatable to the female audience, but in hindsight I can say that I am
surprised that Mendes is participating in this project at all. And her involvement is likely the only
reason it didn't go straight to store shelves.
