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Luckiest Girl Alive review – Mila Kunis runs out of luck in flat Netflix drama

A hollow adaptation of Jessica Knoll’s 2015 novel centers on a woman whose perfect life is corroded by past trauma

T he book cover for Luckiest Girl Alive, Jessica Knoll’s bestselling 2015 debut novel about a woman’s seemingly perfect life corroded by past trauma, features large, blaring font over a cheap-looking black rose – a symbol of rebirth rendered tacky, a bit emo. It’s of the time for a mid-2010s literary hit, but also seems to anticipate the 2022 Netflix adaptation, which wrings the novel of its caustic wit and serrated observations of New York careerists into a hollow, unearned empowerment anthem.

The film version, directed by Mike Barker from a screenplay by Knoll, suffers from a similar problem to this summer’s Where the Crawdads Sing , another adaptation of a literary smash about a jagged female protagonist tapped by Reese Witherspoon. (Witherspoon, a producer on Crawdads, originally bought the rights to Knoll’s novel but dropped out of the project.) Both films inherit and reify the flaws of its source material. Many of the movies’ problems are book problems, made worse, in the case of Luckiest Girl Alive, by decisions to sand down the novel’s more uncomfortable psychology and graft the ending on to the #MeToo movement.

Knoll’s novel drew comparisons upon release to Gillian Flynn, author of the 2012 novel Gone Girl and screenwriter for David Fincher’s superlative 2014 film adaptation . Luckiest Girl Alive does work in a similar lane to Gone Girl or even Emerald Fennell’s pitch-black Promising Young Woman: they’re extreme distillations of the vast chasm between a (white, conventionally beautiful) woman’s outward tranquility and inner bile, with flashbacks suggesting a savage twist.

Luckiest Girl Alive delivers on some of that legacy in its first half: Ani FaNelli, played as a thirtysomething by Mila Kunis , is cutthroat. She appears demure, charmed, moneyed – a Cartier-wearing sex advice writer at a women’s magazine, best friends with beautiful Nell (Succession’s Justine Lupe) and engaged to strapping Nantucket golden boy Luke (Finn Wittrock, born to play a trust fund baby). Her inner voice, provided via acidic monologue, is molten judgment. A “try-hard former financial aid kid”, she obsesses over the appearance of wealth, ravages against her perception (“petite”, as one salesperson calls her, is “for short fat girls”). She prides herself over avoiding carbs then stuffs her face with pizza when Luke isn’t looking. The film is strongest in capturing the brittle freneticism of 2015 New York – packed subways, peacocking office dress, Ani’s eye always on a more prestigious status symbol, a better performance.

The cracks appear from the start – shopping with Luke for wedding registry knives, Ani imagines them dripping in blood – and widen when a documentarian approaches her to tell her side of a tragic story. The film foregrounds the fact that Ani survived and was partially blamed for a 1999 school shooting which killed several classmates and paralyzed Dean Barton (Alex Barone), who went on to become a politician. That would be trauma enough, but the real story, her reason for reinvention and her undoing, is revealed in flashbacks to her time as TiffAni, a financial-aid sophomore at a posh private academy.

The young TiffAni (Chiara Aurelia) is a nondescript teen: interested in English, embarrassed by her gauche, middle-class mother (Connie Britton), down to party. Barker smartly renders the night that cleaves Ani’s life in two – a horrifying sexual assault – in the vein of memories blinkered by alcohol and trauma. Shaky, piecemeal, destabilizing. Aurelia is impressive as a teenager reeling from shame and bristling at pressure to report from her English teacher (Scoot McNairy) and bullied friends Arthur (Thomas Barbusca) and Ben (David Webster).

It’s a shame, then, that everything after that reveal is so heavy-handed. There is no twist, as the film’s echoes of a thriller suggest. Kunis does her best to hold on to Ani’s fragile pain beneath the icy shell, but her surefooted performance drowns in cliches. The film devolves not into what could be (as was better portrayed in the novel) the portrait of a woman learning to speak her truth, but a perfect victim’s story: someone who survived an infamous tragedy, whose pain was wholly misunderstood and discredited, who builds a perfect life only to have the dark secret undo it, then rises stronger. There are pieces of Luckiest Girl Alive that seem interested in a life splintered by trauma, in the relief of unburdening, the hunger for certainty over what happened, the thrill of playing on cultural expectations for women. But the story it ultimately tells is an empty, self-serving fantasy.

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It’s been more than two decades since the deadly Columbine high school shooting that shook the world. While these traumatic events continue to happen to the point of ubiquity and a whole generation of kids have grown up in their wake, Hollywood has found in them a new setting for films that deal with lingering high school trauma. It seems for every compassionate, nuanced film like “ The Fallout ,” there’s something exploitative like “ The Desperate Hour .” 

Unfortunately, “Luckiest Girl Alive,” the latest of these films falls in that latter category. Based on the book of the same name by Jessica Knoll , who also serves as screenwriter, the movie not only dramatizes a school shooting in poor taste, it has the gall to use one as the backdrop while it also exploits rape trauma in the name of girl boss feminism.

With a tone ripped directly from “ Gone Girl ,” the film centers on the seemingly perfect life of Ani ( Mila Kunis ), a writer for a glossy women’s magazine named The Woman’s Bible. She’s written “1,500 stories about how to give a blow job” but all she really wants is a job at the New York Times Magazine so she can be “someone people can respect.” Ani is engaged to an old money scion named Luke ( Finn Wittrock , given nothing to do), who is more of a box to check towards Ani’s goal of unquestionable social legitimacy than anything else. 

Her desire to be the most uncontestable rich person stems from her high school days. A scholarship kid at an elite prep school in Philadelphia, Ani, then known as Tiff ( Chiara Aurelia ), is a survivor of the “deadliest private school shooting in U.S. history.” That this shooting took place in 1999 (the same year as Columbine) and the film’s revelation of who the perpetrators were is one of many incredibly tasteless decisions it makes, which is quite a distinction as the whole thing is mostly made up of tasteless decisions. 

Through flashbacks and Ani’s narration (which is haphazardly deployed throughout as her cynical inner thoughts, an interview for a documentary, and the copy for a piece she writes during the film’s denouement), we learn that one of the survivors, now a gun reform activist, claims that Ani was in on the shooting—but also that this same survivor was one of three classmates who gang-raped Ani at a school dance after party just weeks before the shooting. In order to win the he-said-she-said of it all, Ani aims to climb the top of the social ladder, and then share her side of the story.

Despite the luridness of the material and Mike Barker ’s brutal blocking of the rape sequence, Aurelia does a fine job in showing Ani’s pain and resistance during, confusion immediately after, and later hesitation to report due to internalized shame. If only the older Ani played Kunis were given room for as much nuance. Instead, her PTSD is shown as manifesting through hamfisted visions of blood, of stabbing her fiance (whose elite social status continually reminds her of her rapists), and her vitriolic inner thoughts. 

Ani is also, rightfully, angry at her mother Dina ( Connie Britton ) over actions slowly revealed through the flashbacks. However, this anger manifests mostly in jabs at her mother’s lower social class. Ani’s wedding dress is from Saks 5th Avenue (the one on 5th Avenue!), but she makes it clear to her rich friends that her mother shops at T.J. Maxx. Even the film can’t help but poke fun at Dina as she struggles to fit into the upper echelon world her daughter now inhabits, saddling her with comically high heels and lines about “Say Yes to the Dress” and poorly pronounced Italian. 

Her mother’s financial situation is always in the back of Ani’s mind even as a teen, as is her striver’s spirit. Dina’s reasoning for her daughter to attend a private school in the first place was to get her in the room with rich men. When this plan led to her assault, Dina places the blame on Ani for breaking her rules about alcohol. It’s clear the lesson Ani brought into her adulthood is that privileged men will do what they want and get away scot-free, unless she evens the playing field. Where there could have been a critique of class, there is instead still an aspirational desire to be one of the elites. As if only rich men are capable of bad behavior. 

It’s also never clear exactly what kind of writer Ani wanted to be before writing “skanky” stuff, as her boss LoLo ( Jennifer Beals ) calls her beat, at this women’s magazine. Her striving desire to have her writing in an old establishment like the New York Times comes from the same place as wanting to marry into an old family so that people know they don’t just “have money, they came from money.” Again, there's a missed opportunity to really explore class and power dynamics, but also to explore gender dynamics in the media world beyond a surface level. 

After being sidelined for most of the film, Beals returns and gives Ani a pep talk about “authenticity” and the importance of exposing everyone in her life that didn’t help her as a teenager. This pushes her to finally tell her side of the story in her own words. Ordinarily this moment in a film would feel triumphant, but it’s here you realize “Luckiest Girl Alive” has exploited both school shootings and rape trauma for a self-actualization narrative that ultimately ends with Ani finding value not in the release of her repressed emotions through this writing, but in the shallow achievement of viral fame.

Ani was a victim, sure, but so were all the kids whose lives were lost during the shooting, or were altered forever by the trauma of its aftermath. But the film is so minutely concerned with Ani’s trauma only that it nearly says the deaths of the other kids was justified (it surely relishes in showing their deaths in barbaric detail). The very last scene then positions the trauma of rape victims and those afflicted by gun violence as being in competition with each other for the nation’s attention and actionable change.  

A flashback to a classroom scene where Ani’s sympathetic English teach Mr. Larson (an underused Scoot McNairy ) compliments her analysis of Holden Caulfield as an unreliable narrator suggests the filmmakers want us to view Ani as equally unreliable, having centered herself into this narrative. Does this then mean the film’s narrow viewpoint of competing traumas is solely because it’s presented the events from Ani’s warped point of view? Perhaps, but it doesn’t make its use of a school shooting as a background for her personal journey any less callous. 

On Netflix today.

Marya E. Gates

Marya E. Gates is a freelance film and culture writer based in Los Angeles and Chicago. She studied Comparative Literature at U.C. Berkeley, and also has an overpriced and underused MFA in Film Production. Other bylines include Moviefone, The Playlist, Crooked Marquee, Nerdist, and Vulture. 

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Film credits.

Luckiest Girl Alive (2022)

Rated R for violent content, rape, sexual material, language throughout and teen substance use.

113 minutes

Mila Kunis as Ani FaNelli

Finn Wittrock as Luke Harrison

Scoot McNairy as Andrew Larson

Chiara Aurelia as Young Ani

Thomas Barbusca as Arthur Finnerman

Justine Lupe as Nell Rutherford

Alexandra Beaton as Hilary Hitchinson

Connie Britton as Dina

Gage Munroe as Peyton Powell

Alexandra Beaton as Hilary Hutchinson

Nicole Huff as Olivia Kaplan

• Mike Barker

Writer (novel)

• Jessica Knoll

Cinematographer

• Colin Watkinson
• Nancy Richardson
• Linda Perry

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‘Luckiest Girl Alive’ Review: Lean In, to Outrage

Mila Kunis plays a successful career woman who faces a horrific incident from her past in this drama based on the novel by Jessica Knoll.

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By Amy Nicholson

To become the “Luckiest Girl Alive,” a title this dramedy shellacs with sarcasm, a self-loathing magazine writer named Ani (Mila Kunis) has achieved a trifecta of status symbols: a prestigious education (acquired via scholarships), a slim body (acquired via an eating disorder), and a posh fiancé (acquired via emotional suppression). Marriage to blue-blooded Luke Harrison IV (Finn Wittrock) will cement her transformation from teenage pushover TifAni FaNelli (played in flashbacks by Chiara Aurelia) to her intimidating new identity as Ani Harrison — that is, if she can restrain herself from fantasizing about stabbing her husband-to-be in the neck.

“Snap out of it, psycho,” Ani growls in the first of many harsh monologues that run the length of the film. Her fanged narration sets us up for a makeover movie in reverse where a carb-fearing perfectionist allows herself to enjoy pizza. In part, it is that movie. But readers of Jessica Knoll’s novel of the same name, which she here adapts for the screen, know that Ani is reeling from a high school gang rape compounded by a mass shooting. These intertwined tragedies rebranded one of Ani’s abusers, played as a student by Carson MacCormac and in adulthood by Alex Barone, into a grandstanding public moralist. At the same time, her own labels make her itch: survivor, victim, villain, hero, slut. Ani wears success like a bulletproof vest, until run-ins with her mother (Connie Britton), her former teacher (Scoot McNairy) and a documentarian (Dalmar Abuzeid) force her to re-examine her facade.

Kunis’s alpha female appears at once ferocious and like a conspicuous sham. (Imagine Sheryl Sandberg as a “Scooby-Doo” villain.) Her performance carries the film — a fortunate break for the director Mike Barker, who has the near-impossible challenge of shepherding the tone from snark to painful sincerity. Too often, Barker resorts to shooting pat scenes of Kunis staring at herself in a mirror. Yet, he and the cinematographer Colin Watkinson also capture Ani’s callous gaze in glimpses, say when a crumb on the corner of Abuzeid’s lip symbolizes her suspicion that she can’t trust this klutz as her mouthpiece.

It’s initially baffling that Knoll pointedly sets the film in 2015, the year her book was published. (What for? A one-liner about Hillary Clinton winning the presidency?) Still, Knoll took another year to speak openly about how Ani’s trauma overlaps with her own, and today, her script serves as a reminder of that recent history right before #MeToo, when strength passed for healing and misogyny hid behind a smile that sneered, Can’t you take a joke ?

“Yes,” Ani might counter — and she’s absorbed so many punch lines that, like the culture at large, she’s poised to explode.

Luckiest Girl Alive Rated R for sexual violence and language. Running time: 1 hour 53 minutes. Watch on Netflix .

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Luckiest Girl Alive review – an absorbing mystery with moments of sobering reality

Visceral while also empowering, Luckiest Girl Alive holds the viewer’s attention with an absorbing mystery and moments of sobering reality. Kunis’s slow descent from numbing pain to self-awareness is subtle but transfixing.

This review of the Netflix film Luckiest Girl Alive does not contain spoilers.

Luckiest Girl Alive hits the streaming waves on Netflix . The smash hit and New York Times best-seller adaptation is true to form, keeping the mix of quality storytelling with scenes of utter horror that many may find prompt uneasy feelings along with buried memories. Many may find this an odd and polarizing mix considering the recent trend of gun violence in our schools. Even the much-talked-about and graphic rape scenes in the film. Yet, the story is told with such consummate grace this may be one of the most entertaining yet gut-wrenching entertainments in years. And who are we to judge a piece of filmmaking from someone who drew from their own experiences? The result is a haunting yet unshackling metaphor for the effects of sexual assault and even victimization.

Luckiest Girl Alive follows Ani (a terrific Mila Kunis ), a writer in New York City who seemingly has a perfect life. She has a job at a top magazine where her editor Lolo ( Jennifer Beals ) thinks she’s a rising star whose writing is “peerless” to the rest. Ani’s also engaged to a bachelor, Luke ( Finn Wittrock ), who comes from a wealthy family and has a top finance job in London waiting for him, to the glee of her mother (played by Connie Britton). She is so image-conscious that she won’t eat a slice of pizza in front of her fiancé unless he leaves the table. And then she blames the server for spilling a drink on them, which leads to the food being tossed.

Ani has perfectly crafted her image and life in a way that gives total control. Unfortunately, she has a secret she keeps from most people that is about to become known. She has a choice to make: Follow Luke to London or stay at taking her dream job at The New York Times . However, his secret will come to light through an insincere true crime director (Dalmar Abuzeid). You see, Ani used to go by TifAni. She is one of a handful of survivors of the worst school shooting in United States history.

One of the victims, a boy named Dean, accused her of being one of the conspirators. Why would he do that? Because he was one of three teenage boys who raped TifAni at a party a few days prior. She reported the assault to her favorite teacher (Scoot McNairy) but is too ashamed and afraid to pursue it. So, this begs the question if Ani/TifAni had anything to do with the shooting.

This film was directed by Mike Barker, a long-time television producer and director of such series as The Handmaid’s Tale , Fargo , and Broadchurch. He makes his feature debut here, and it’s a good one. Working with a script from the author Jessica Knoll from her source material of the same name, Luckiest Girl Alive  is an engrossing first-time feature. Featuring a fierce performance from Mila Kunis, Barker and Knoll successfully adapt a sensitive subject matter with provocative themes that’s also a highly entertaining mystery.

However, let’s make no mistake that many flashbacks can be grueling and tough to watch. Particularly the gang rape scene over several minutes. And, of course, the school shooting scenes are graphic and could be triggering for many. Knoll is on record that the gang rape scene is based on her own experiences, which gives the film added weight. Knowing this, the character, who ruminates in her own head daily, borders on the dangers of having a revenge fantasy, which is what sparked the shooting in the first place.

The whole matter is handled with much thoughtfulness, empathy, and a jolting mix of sobering reality, not only for the victims but the perpetrators. Yet, what Luckiest Girl Alive does so well is explore the areas of victimization. TifAni is singled out with cruel treatment by her attackers, his mother (Connie Bitton), and officials. As much as we are justified in wanting to blame the shooters for their actions, they are victims as well. As much as we see Kunis’s character as a tragic story, her behaviors are becoming self-destructive in her life. Ani’s perfected persona (tough, cool, and cynical) is her cover and shield for her past trauma. Her constant thoughts, feelings, and wants are cloaked by it. Kunis’s slow descent from numbing pain to acutely unguarded self-awareness is subtle but transfixing.

Luckiest Girl Alive is a genre film with timely and modern themes. Despite the film being too long, the story holds the viewer’s attention while mixing in moments of sobering reality. This is a good picture that ultimately may have too many moments of triggering effects for mass audiences. However, the visceral story is empowering, and Kunis’s vulnerability makes Barker and Knoll’s adaptation such an absorbing ride.

What did you think of the Netflix film Luckiest Girl Alive? Comment below.

Additional Reading

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• Is Luckiest Girl Alive a true story ?

Article by Marc Miller

Marc Miller (also known as M.N. Miller) joined Ready Steady Cut in April 2018 as a Film and TV Critic, publishing over 1,600 articles on the website. Since a young age, Marc dreamed of becoming a legitimate critic and having that famous “Rotten Tomato” approved status – in 2023, he achieved that status.

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‘Luckiest Girl Alive’ Review: A Flawed But Compelling Bestseller Retelling

Dir. mike barker — 2.5 stars.

Dark messaging, childhood trauma, and shocking violence coalesce in “Luckiest Girl Alive.” The Netflix film is based on Jessica Knoll’s 2015 New York Times bestselling book of the same name. However, due to its darker themes, the film has also found itself mired in controversy , with viewers urging Netflix to add a trigger warning to the beginning of the film.

“Luckiest Girl Alive” follows New York writer Ani FaNelli (Mila Kunis), who is asked to take part in a true-crime documentary about the school shooting that occured at her high school. While the movie presents itself as a seemingly light story about a writer in New York planning for her wedding, “Luckiest Girl Alive” progressively adopts a darker tone in its dialogue, as well as in its graphic scenes of violence. As a film, “‘Luckiest Girl Alive” succeeds in delivering a strong message that involves complex themes. However, it is in the film’s core scenes of violence and trauma that it fails to reach its potential.

Kunis shone throughout this film, delivering lines effectively and performing heavier scenes with a commendable skill. Ani FaNelli requires compelling portrayal because she is in recovery from multiple traumatic events, and Kunis steps up to the task. She surprises in both light-hearted and particularly tense scenes with the way she is able to embody the weight of her character’s past as the film progresses. About half of Kunis’s scenes depict her engaging in pre-wedding activities believably and naturally and add a brilliant contrast to her tense form and pained expressions when she speaks about Ani’s teenage years. The sharp dissonance in these states of being highlights her ability to seamlessly shift from a writer to a survivor.

Chiara Aurelia, who plays the teenage Ani FaNelli, similarly impresses in her portrayal of the horrific events that occurred during Ani’s high school years. Despite having to depict horrific displays of repeated sexual assault, Aurelia effectively conveys Ani’s complex emotions and behaviors in many hard-to-watch scenes. In addition, the dialogue of the film is well-written and effective in conveying both the daily conversations of the characters and scenes of tragedy.

Despite compelling performances, “Luckiest Girl Alive” falls short in a familiar way: in its use of flashbacks to reveal past events. The plot of the film is based on the tragedies that Ani encountered, however, it is unclear to the reader until the later half of the film how Ani and her classmates were truly involved in this horrific event. While it leaves watchers in the dark for a majority of the film, this strategy initially works well for the film. It depicts the heavy toll the event still had on Ani’s daily life and the long term effects that still reverberated in her life, rather than simply recounting her past. However, this leads to ultimately confusing introductions of characters and relationships.

As a result, “Luckiest Girl Alive” disappoints in the most pivotal moments of Ani’s life. While the film’s brevity during these teenage scenes can be beneficial in avoiding repetitiveness, these parts of the film are confusing due to a lack of introduction or context for new characters and the connections between the main character and surrounding characters being made only after these scenes have already passed. Furthermore, it would have been more effective to display more context of Ani’s home life and relationships with her social circle and mother, in order to better lay out the story to viewers. In speaking about her own reasons for writing the book, Knoll said the book was based on her own experiences in high school:

"There were these dueling things inside of me. I desperately craved the release of getting my story out on paper, and the validation of recognizing what had happened to me as rape. I needed that,” Knoll said.

Knoll’s experiences help shine a light on the main messaging of the film. Despite confusing scenes and relationships, the film effectively conveys powerful messaging about trauma and the label of “a victim.” Whether it be Kunis and Aurelia’s performances or a love for Knoll’s book, “Luckiest Girl Alive” is a film with important takeaways that should not be overlooked.

—Staff writer Monique I. Vobecky can be reached at [email protected] . Follow her on Twitter @moniquevobecky .

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‘Luckiest Girl Alive’ Review: Mila Kunis Is All That Works in a Punishing Thriller That Inflicts Cruelty on Everyone

A successful woman finds it difficult to deal when her tormented past is unearthed in this by-the-book adaptation of Jessica Knoll's 'Gone Girl' knockoff.

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Mirrors reflect who we are, or at least how we want to appear to others. Director Mike Barker ’s “ Luckiest Girl Alive ” uses them as a motif throughout this tale centered on a woman whose pristine, calculated image disguises a mess of insecurities and intense psychological pain. Yet the picture portrayed in author Jessica Knoll’s adaptation of her own novel struggles with its tone, poor character construction and annoying screenwriting contrivances. Utilizing a traditionally glossy, chick-lit-retrofitted heroine as a mouthpiece for somber, serious activist sentiments isn’t so much provocative as just downright batty.

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Barker and Knoll toggle between past and present timelines with little to no ease, perhaps simulating the jarring, jagged edges of the protagonist’s bad memories being unearthed, but this interrupts narrative momentum. Character development, particularly in the cases of Luke, who’s supportive until he’s not, and Ani’s former teacher Mr. Larson (Scoot McNairy), who conveniently appears and disappears, could use a lot more finesse as the filmmakers botch their arcs. Worse, there are scant amounts of sensitivity in the reveal of Ani’s painfully disturbing ordeals. These highly emotional sequences are less riveting and more revolting as they’re primarily used to add shock value, graphically depicting their triggering subject matter.

Kunis is up to the task of portraying a multi-layered leading lady. Her droll delivery makes Ani’s passive-aggressive arrogance seem like an art form. She’s also rather nimble when a spot of levity is brought into stressful situations, as when she insults her obnoxious future aunt (Leah Pinsent) or rolls her eyes at her gauche mother (Connie Britton). Though the material severely hobbles him, Wittrock adds a modicum of depth to his one-dimensional character. Justine Jupe, who plays Ani’s blonde bestie, is also decent, if not hampered by her all-too-brief screen time.

While the story fails and the acting underwhelms, the film’s aesthetics add luster. Barker and production designer Elisa Sauve play up the thematic notion of duality, incorporating reflective surfaces that echo Ani’s dual personas. Alix Friedberg’s contemporary costume designs give characters a sophisticated sheen as an interesting juxtaposition to their messy misery. Colin Watkinson’s cinematography gifts the project with a necessary depth to the imagery. Flashbacks evoke a sullen and cold feeling not terribly far from adult Ali’s color palette, emphasizing the past and present’s connective throughline.

“Luckiest Girl Alive” reminds that not every author with a best-selling, female-led thriller can be as talented as Gillian Flynn, whose “Gone Girl” adaptation provides much of this film’s inspiration. With its superficial sentiments hinting that our harried heroine can survive and thrive if she’s willing to confront difficult truths, the film lacks a genuinely heartening pull. Because of its unwieldy aspects, primarily those shoe-horned into the climax, its simplistic conclusion draws ire instead of the inspired elation these filmmakers crave.

Reviewed online, Los Angeles, October 3, 2022. MPA Rating: R. Running time: 113 MIN.

• Production: A Netflix release of a Picturestart, Made Up Stories, Orchard Farm production. Producers: Bruna Papandrea, Jeanne Snow, Erik Feig, Lucy Kitada, Mila Kunis. Executive producers: Jessica Knoll, Mike Barker, Buddy Enright, Lisa Sterbakov, Shayne Fiske Goldner, Julia Hammer.
• Crew: Director: Mike Barker. Screenplay: Jessica Knoll, based on her novel. Camera: Colin Watkinson. Editor: Nancy Richardson. Music: Linda Perry.
• With: Mila Kunis, Finn Wittrock, Chiara Aurelia, Scoot McNairy, Justine Lupe, Dalmar Abuzeid, Jennifer Beals, Connie Britton. 

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Disturbing drama has graphic violence, sex, language.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Sometimes dealing with problems or past trauma hea

A woman lives a life that's superficially privileg

Ani wants in to the exclusively wealthy upper clas

Graphic depictions of explosions, shootings, and s

Teens kiss and grope. An engaged couple kiss and i

"F--k," variations on "s--t," and "ass," "goddamn,

Polo, Colgate, The Today Show, The New York Times,

Teens drink alcohol, get drunk, and smoke marijuan

Parents need to know that the drama Luckiest Girl Alive , based on the book by Jessica Knoll, has graphic depictions of sexual and school violence. The main character, Ani (Mila Kunis), was the victim of both a gang rape and a deadly school shooting, both of which are shown in explicit detail. Violence…

Positive Messages

Sometimes dealing with problems or past trauma head-on but peacefully is the best way to move forward. People should be held accountable for their past actions, no matter what they've done in the interim.

Positive Role Models

A woman lives a life that's superficially privileged but hides past trauma that she eventually must confront in her own way. Her fiancé doesn't want his own life and reputation undermined. People are seen as either über-wealthy or desiring to be so, skipping meals and lying to themselves and others in order to fit the image. Teenage boys are depicted as cruel, violent, and insecure; one grows up to try to effect positive change in part by secreting away his past. Teenagers who don't deal with their anger are seen as exploding in unhealthy ways. A girl who has been raped is blamed or called "insane." Teachers, school administrators, and parents are portrayed as sometimes caring and helpful and sometimes not.

Diverse Representations

Ani wants in to the exclusively wealthy upper class of New York City life, values her mom instilled in her by sending her to private schools so she would marry well. Her private school friends appear to be mostly (but not entirely) White, as does her social circle. A documentary filmmaker is Black.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Violence & Scariness

Graphic depictions of explosions, shootings, and stabbings in a school setting. Flashbacks to aspects of this event and imaginings of other similar ones. Explicit portrayal of a gang rape involving teenagers. Rape kits and morning-after pills are suggested, as is the difficult decision to report the incident. Boys taunt girls with sexual language. Description of extreme bullying behavior, including one teen relieving his bowels on another. Other bullying includes fat-shaming, slut-shaming, victim-blaming, and online threats. A suicide is suggested. A person deletes a social media post that elicited an insulting and threatening comment.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Teens kiss and grope. An engaged couple kiss and initiate sex. The main character is a sex writer at a women's magazine who writes stories involving topics like oral sex, orgasms, and the clitoris. There's mention in the film of breast reductions, touching a "c--k," having "d--k" "rode hard," "wet," sexual deviation, phallic symbols, and pubic hair.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

"F--k," variations on "s--t," and "ass," "goddamn," "bitch," "bastard," "d--k," "hell," "pr--k," "slut," "fat," "flabby," "weird," "idiot," "loser," "Jesus Christ" (as an exclamation), and "oh my God."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Polo, Colgate, The Today Show , The New York Times , Columbia, Cartier, Scully & Scully, TJ Maxx, Saks Fifth Avenue, Cuisinart, Mac.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Teens drink alcohol, get drunk, and smoke marijuana. Drinking too much leads to violent behavior and is also used as an excuse for that behavior. Adults drink regularly.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that the drama Luckiest Girl Alive , based on the book by Jessica Knoll, has graphic depictions of sexual and school violence. The main character, Ani ( Mila Kunis ), was the victim of both a gang rape and a deadly school shooting, both of which are shown in explicit detail. Violence includes explosions, shootings, and stabbings in a school setting as well as flashbacks to aspects of this event and discussion of extreme bullying behavior, including one teen relieving his bowels on another. Teens drink until passing out, smoke marijuana, kiss, and grope. A gang rape is seen in explicit and violent detail (no body parts are shown). An engaged couple kiss and initiate sex. The main character is a sex writer at a women's magazine; she writes stories involving topics like oral sex, orgasms, and the clitoris. There's mention in the film of breast reductions, touching a "c--k," having a "d--k" "rode hard," sexual deviation, phallic symbols, and pubic hair. Other language includes "f--k," variations on "s--t," and "ass," "goddamn," "bitch," "bastard," "d--k," "hell," "pr--k," "slut," and more. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

Videos and photos.

Community Reviews

• Parents say (1)
• Kids say (2)

Based on 1 parent review

Gratuitous sexual violence

What's the story.

LUCKIEST GIRL ALIVE lead character Ani FaNelli ( Mila Kunis ) appears to have a perfect life: A respected writer at a New York City-based women's magazine, she's about to wed a handsome and wealthy man ( Finn Wittrock ). But Ani is also very angry, and she seems to have flashbacks to violent events in her past. When a documentary filmmaker (Dalmar Abuzeid) approaches her to give an interview about her role in a school shooting incident that happened when she was a teenager ( Chiara Aurelia ), Ani is forced to confront the traumatic events of her teen years and how her role is portrayed by classmates like politician Dean Barton (Alex Barone). With the support of her editor ( Jennifer Beals ), Ani embarks on a reckoning with the past.

Is It Any Good?

This emotionally taxing film is likely to spark debate about the portrayal of both sexual and school violence and its repercussions, and Kunis' compelling lead performance drives that portrayal. Kunis plays the main character of Luckiest Girl Alive , who calls herself a "victim" rather than a "survivor," as full of barely contained rage. This comes out in scenes where she loses control of her anger as well as through a viciously cynical voice-over. Her inner monologue is full of self-shaming and name-calling, making her a character who is difficult to like until you come to understand what has made her this way (even then, she's not exactly likable, just more understandable). Kunis was a good choice -- she transforms here into a sharp-edged, intelligent ball of nerves -- and Chiara Aurelia captures the same energy as her teen self. But some of her cynicism comes across as excessive, like when she stuffs pizza into her mouth out of sight of her boyfriend after admitting she hasn't eaten lunch in six years.

The idea is that hers is a carefully curated and performative life that obfuscates severe trauma bubbling under the surface. Her divided identities are depicted in a scene from the film where she's prepping for a TV interview and her image is reflected back at her in a diversity of different mirrors. The tale is initially set up as a mystery, with hints that Kunis' Ani has committed violent acts herself in the past. Once it comes to light that as a high schooler she suffered both sexual violence and a deadly school shooting, the film begins weaving back and forth between her present and her tormented past, building up to a breakdown and a breakthrough. It's hard not to find parallels between this story and real events, like the accusations against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh during his Senate confirmation, #MeToo revelations and calls for justice, and real school shootings (so often perpetrated by young men) like Columbine. That's a lot to pack into one movie, perhaps undermining some of the intentions here (evident in Netflix's wannatalkaboutit initiative and a heavy-handed "everywoman" end scene).

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about Ani's decisions as a teenager and as an adult in Luckiest Girl Alive . Did you agree with all of the choices she makes? Why, or why not?

Why is Ani so angry, and does her anger seem to resolve at the end -- or not?

Do you think the graphic depiction of violence in this film was necessary to tell its story? Why, or why not?

This film references a website launched by Netflix to address serious topics raised in some of its films and series and to offer information and resources. Do you think it's the role or responsibility of a film distributor such as a streaming platform to provide this information? Why, or why not?

Movie Details

• On DVD or streaming : October 7, 2022
• Cast : Mila Kunis , Chiara Aurelia , Finn Wittrock
• Director : Mike Barker
• Inclusion Information : Female actors, Female writers
• Studio : Netflix
• Genre : Drama
• Topics : Book Characters , High School
• Run time : 115 minutes
• MPAA rating : R
• MPAA explanation : violent content, rape, sexual material, language throughout and teen substance use
• Last updated : September 29, 2023

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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‘luckiest girl alive’ review: mila kunis leads lackluster netflix adaptation of jessica knoll’s best-seller.

The actress stars in a film version of the 2015 novel about a woman forced to confront a past event that threatens to unravel her perfectly curated life.

By Lovia Gyarkye

Lovia Gyarkye

Arts & Culture Critic

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Ani FaNelli ( Mila Kunis ) lives an opulent, regimented and, some people might consider, enviable life. The protagonist of Netflix ’s Luckiest Girl Alive writes for a glossy women’s magazine, is engaged to a poster boy for summers in Nantucket and wears designer clothes tailored to her svelte form. She has discerning taste, a sharp personality and a caustic tongue.

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Adapted from Jessica Knoll’s best-selling novel of the same name, Luckiest Girl Alive struggles to balance its dual aspirations: delivering an emotionally wrought tale about survival, and wrapping its gravity in the cheeky breeziness of publishing comedies like Freeform’s The Bold Type . These commitments don’t have to be oppositional, but Luckiest Girl Alive doesn’t adequately justify their union. The result is a distant, atonal film that feels more slippery than evocative. Part of the blame rests on the inherent challenges of translating first-person narratives to the screen. Even if other films, like Gone Girl (to which Luckiest Girl Alive has been compared), have managed more effectively, it’s difficult to capture that level of interiority and intimacy in visual terms.

The film, directed by Mike Barker ( The Handmaid’s Tale ) with a screenplay by Knoll, seems to trudge through Ani’s unraveling, which is triggered by an inquiring documentary filmmaker (Dalmar Abuzeid) determined to uncover the real backstory behind the shooting at her prestigious private high school. He wants to give Ani a chance to clear her name, to counter the pervading narrative that has recast her as an accomplice instead of a victim. Beset by his insistence on an interview, Ani finds herself in a tough position: protect the life she struggled to build, or speak the truth about her experience.

Luckiest Girl Alive spends a considerable amount of time on Ani’s indecision, which goes beyond whether to participate in the documentary. Luke, who works in finance, was recently promoted to lead his company’s European office, which means Ani might have to move to London after the wedding. Meanwhile, Ani’s boss ( Jennifer Beals ) wants her protégée to — because of some vague contractual agreement — move with her to The New York Times Magazine as a senior editor. The many choices — to do the doc or not, to curtail her career or not — weigh down the narrative, which soon starts to feel like it simply has too much going on.

Luckiest Girl Alive takes its time to draw a conclusion most viewers will have guessed by the halfway point. The nearly two-hour runtime invites a sleepiness that the film struggles to shake. Whether it’s from a lack in the material or direction, Kunis’ portrayal feels fractured and incomplete long after the pieces of the character should have started clicking into place. By the time Ani decides what to do about the documentary (and her life), it’s hard not to feel like we should know her at least a little bit better.

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Jessica Knoll’s 2015 novel, her second, takes place many floors beneath those occupied by the likes of Succession , but it’s roughly the same Manhattan neighborhood, at least attitude-wise. The imaginatively named Tifani FaNelli ( Mila Kunis ) is a sleek mid-30ish woman who, at the outset, is poised to leave her newspaper gossip-column job for a treasured position as the senior editor of The New York Times Magazine . She’s also due to marry a real catch the in the Adonis-like Luke Harrison (Finn Wittrock). What could go wrong with this picture?

As often happens, it’s something from out of the past. Assorted flashback snippets throughout the rather long-feeling two-hour running time reveal that a very nasty incident took place once upon a time in a private boarding school that Tifani (where did they come up with that spelling?) at the time participated in covering up. Even though the crime resulted in death, Tifani never told the full story and managed to wiggle out of it all unscathed, legally if not emotionally.

“The past is never dead,” someone helpfully mentions, and it’s clear from Tifani’s neuroses that she’s still greatly troubled by what she experienced way back when. As played by Kunis, Tifani comes off as almost permanently tense and tightly wound, and it’s somewhat disconcerting how very different Chiara Aurelia, the actress who plays Tifani in her teens, looks compared with the older actress.

Tifani does have every reason to feel uptight, but Kunis’ performance remains in clenched mode most of the way, with very little modulation or character revelation, which prevents this smart and accomplished woman from showing a very wide range of colors and emotions. Her anguished dilemma notwithstanding, it’s not all that easy to really become attached to her, and the script would have been helped by a scene or two of Tifani and her soon-to-be husband displaying some real intimacy that might have provided a greater rooting interest in their relationship.

British director Mike Barker — whose many TV credits including The Handmaid’s Tale, Fargo and Broadchurch outclass his big-screen efforts to date — keeps this moving swiftly and coherently, which allows the young characters’ behavior under shocking duress seem plausible. The long-term issue is whether they can live with their terrible secrets their entire lives or finally spill the beans, come what may.

Luckiest Girl Alive was written with adherence to a particular popular formula to reach a particular audience of mostly young women, but it does carry sufficient elements of “What would you have done under the same circumstances?” that lend it a degree of credibility. As formulaic as it is, the story nonetheless confronts the persistence of guilt over past questionable behavior and how people struggle to deal with it, even long after the fact.

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Luckiest Girl Alive Reviews

Skilfully adapted for the screen from her 2015 novel of the same name, Jessica Knoll has brought contemporary concerns alive in a harrowingly thrilling film.

Full Review | Oct 4, 2023

This movie just doesn't quite work...It felt like a very fashionable Hallmark movie.

Full Review | Original Score: 6.5 | Aug 10, 2023

Luckiest Girl Alive is able to tie everything up with a neat bow at the end because nothing was ever unpacked to begin with. This latest Netflix Original is sensationalized trauma packaged neatly for the true-crime-obsessed crowd.

Full Review | Jul 24, 2023

Some tighter editing, a deeper script and short run-time would've worked in the movies favour, but what we were delivered was a tough yet enjoyable watch that does what it says on the tin.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 24, 2023

Much of the film almost comes across as a forgettable CW drama. ... [Mila] Kunis is certainly a talented actress, but the material for this film was simply not endearing enough to make it memorable for its audience.

Full Review | Jun 16, 2023

Luckiest Girl Alive delivers a heartbreakingly real feeling story about just how coldly the world can be to someone who has survived traumatic events.

Full Review | Jan 4, 2023

Netflix has made the best “Lifetime Original Movie” ever.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Dec 24, 2022

Seen as a clarifying film about the silences that usually surround abuse or as a shooter elegy –whichever it is, affirmative capitalism is the one that ends up triumphant– what remains of Luckiest girl alive is the idea of ​​something uncomfortably bland.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/10 | Nov 5, 2022

Mila Kunis is good but not good enough to make this movie anything better than average entertainment.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/10 | Oct 20, 2022

there’s a decent film in here somewhere about trauma’s ripple effects and people’s coping mechanisms. ... [But] As a thriller, the jolts just aren’t there, and ginning up those elements saps Ani’s journey of emotional weight.

Full Review | Oct 20, 2022

Luckiest Girl Alive throws a miniseries worth of ideas into a lacklustre movie.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Oct 19, 2022

Messily (and almost irresponsibly) waffles between tones, and would perhaps have benefited from embracing the black comedy genre it dives into at first... [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Oct 17, 2022

It all adds up. But the result isn't always more, sometimes it adds up to less. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Oct 17, 2022

For Kunis, “Luckiest Girl Alive” marks her career acting zenith. In her performance that’s not all that far removed from her Oscar-nominated turn in the equally unnerving “The Black Swan,” Kunis never attempts to soften or sand-down Ani’s rougher edges.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Oct 17, 2022

The film has a somewhat discursive start before coming together to deliver a very potent second half.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 15, 2022

Some of the sequences are difficult to watch at times. But with great storytelling and exceptional performances from both Kunis and Aurelia, it is definitely a film worth watching.

Full Review | Oct 14, 2022

Sometimes irritatingly confusing and redundant. Yet it remains engrossing and, in the end, compelling, even if the way it wraps things up is rather obvious and self-congratulatory.

Full Review | Original Score: B- | Oct 13, 2022

After a chaotic opening stanza, Luckiest Girl Alive has plenty going for it.

Full Review | Oct 12, 2022

These are important issues and, even if the narrative is drawn out, director Mike Barker's approach has both gripping tension and resonant commentary that deserves to strike a nerve.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Oct 12, 2022

This emotionally taxing film is likely to spark debate about the portrayal of both sexual and school violence and its repercussions, and Kunis' compelling lead performance drives that portrayal.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 12, 2022

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Metacritic reviews

Luckiest girl alive.

• 75 San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle The movie maintains interest throughout and it’s ultimately satisfying, though with one qualification: The last minutes treat the story as though its whole purpose was to illustrate a social and political issue. It’s actually, for 98% of its running time, the story of a person — and it’s better that way.
• 70 Arizona Republic Bill Goodykoontz Arizona Republic Bill Goodykoontz The film . . . is good, not great; it never quite marries the skewering of New York elites with the true-crime feel of its grittier elements. But the performances keep it mostly on track.
• 61 Paste Magazine Amy Amatangelo Paste Magazine Amy Amatangelo There’s a worthwhile story in here about the long-term effects of trauma, how society disregards and casts aside adolescent girls, how quick we are to blame the victim, how bullying can lead to terror—but all these messages gets lost in translation.
• 60 The New York Times Amy Nicholson The New York Times Amy Nicholson Kunis’s alpha female appears at once ferocious and like a conspicuous sham. (Imagine Sheryl Sandberg as a “Scooby-Doo” villain.) Her performance carries the film — a fortunate break for the director Mike Barker, who has the near-impossible challenge of shepherding the tone from snark to painful sincerity.
• 58 The A.V. Club Luke Y. Thompson The A.V. Club Luke Y. Thompson The unquestionably well-intentioned and obviously deeply personal Luckiest Girl Alive would benefit from more mature guidance.
• 58 IndieWire IndieWire Small edits could have propelled the film into a dark drama instead of something resembling a PSA.
• 50 CNN Brian Lowry CNN Brian Lowry Luckiest Girl Alive falls short of its promise, a reminder that, however ironic the title is intended to be, fortune tends to favor the bold.
• 50 The Hollywood Reporter Lovia Gyarkye The Hollywood Reporter Lovia Gyarkye Luckiest Girl Alive struggles to balance its dual aspirations: delivering an emotionally wrought tale about survival and wrapping its gravity in the cheeky breeziness of publishing comedies like Freeform’s The Bold Type.
• 40 The Guardian Adrian Horton The Guardian Adrian Horton There are pieces of Luckiest Girl Alive that seem interested in a life splintered by trauma, in the relief of unburdening, the hunger for certainty over what happened, the thrill of playing on cultural expectations for women. But the story it ultimately tells is an empty, self-serving fantasy.
• 25 RogerEbert.com Marya E. Gates RogerEbert.com Marya E. Gates The whole thing is mostly made up of tasteless decisions.
• See all 15 reviews on Metacritic.com
• See all external reviews for Luckiest Girl Alive

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• The Story Behind Netflix’s <i>Luckiest Girl Alive</i>

The Story Behind Netflix’s Luckiest Girl Alive

A ni FaNelli ( Mila Kunis ) sits in front of stained glass windows in her former high school, the private and prestigious Bradley School in suburban Philadelphia. She’s on edge, talking with an independent documentary filmmaker about a school shooting that unfolded here two decades ago—and the accusations surrounding it.

“You’re lucky you have a mother who got you a lawyer and supported you,” the filmmaker tells her. “Not everyone has that.”

Ani is silent, recalling a memory of her mother failing to believe her version of events. “You disgust me,” her mother hisses. “You are not the daughter that I raised.”

She flashes back to the present. “Hmm. Yes. Very lucky,” she responds, barely containing her pain and anger. “Luckiest girl alive right here.”

Luckiest Girl Alive , an adaptation of a 2015 book by the same name, releases on Netflix on Friday. Its ending has changed, but the powerful core of the story persists.

What to know about the novel

Author Jessica Knoll’s mystery novel Luckiest Girl Alive found resounding success upon its publication in 2015, spending four months on the best-seller lists and selling more than 450,000 copies. Written in the first person, the book itself is predominantly fictional. It tells the story of Ani Fanelli, formerly known as TifAni, and her phoenix-like rise and reinvention from the traumatic ashes of her teenage years.

“The knee-jerk reaction is to dismiss Ani as vain and vapid,” Knoll told the New York Times. “But when we reward women for showing their full range of humanity, warts and all, when we give their struggles weight, we allow for the possibility that their flaws and stories can endear, inspire and move us, just like those of men.”

The novel worried less about the likeability of its protagonist than her truth, drawing comparisons to Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl , which came out three years prior. Like Gone Girl, Luckiest Girl Alive dissects crime, gender, and class, reassembling femininity through a contemporary lens.

“One woman’s carefully orchestrated, perfect life slowly cracks to reveal a dark underbelly in Knoll’s knockout debut novel,” read the review in Publishers Weekly. “What sets this novel apart is the author’s ability to snare the reader from page one, setting the tone for a completely enthralling read as the secrets are revealed.”

Read More: What to Know About the Beloved Book Behind Lena Dunham’s Catherine, Called Birdy

Who is Jessica Knoll?

Although the book is fiction, it was also partially based on author Jessica Knoll’s personal experience—a fact that the public didn’t learn until a year after the book’s release.

In the lead-up to the shooting in Luckiest Girl Alive , Ani experiences rape by three separate classmates consecutively, which all three boys deny. (Later, her mother also rejects this reality, making it nearly impossible for Ani to report the crimes.)

In March 2016, Knoll wrote an essay for the online feminist newsletter Lenny Letter, titled What I Know , about the fact that Ani’s gang rape was based on her own traumatic experience at age 15.

“My anger is carbon monoxide, binding to pain, humiliation, and hurt, rendering them powerless,” Knoll wrote. “You would never know when you met me how angry I am. Like Ani, I sometimes feel like a wind-up doll. Turn my key and I will tell you what you want to hear. I will smile on cue. My anger is odorless, colorless, and tasteless. It’s completely toxic.”

In the film, Ani recites these lines almost word for word, spitting them out as she finally confronts one of her rapists. “Do you know the difference between me and someone like you, Dean?” she asks, seething. “My anger is like carbon monoxide. It’s odorless, tasteless, colorless, and completely toxic. But only to me. See, I don’t take my anger out on anyone other than my f–cking self.”

After the essay, readers flooded social media with messages of support and thanks to Knoll for coming forward. While the author did not experience a school shooting firsthand, the damning details of the rape scene came from personal pain.

“I was so conditioned to not talk about it that it didn’t even occur to me to be forthcoming,” Knoll told the New York Times. “I want to make people feel like they can talk about it, like they don’t have to be ashamed of it.”

Read More: Here Are the 12 New Books You Should Read in October

How the ending Luckiest Girl Alive departs from the novel

The liberation of sharing her story encouraged Knoll to adapt the novel into a movie herself—not always typical for authors when their work is optioned. But the film diverges from the novel in one key place: the ending.

After Ani ultimately leaves her fiancé—a symbol of the posh upper crust she worked so hard to assimilate into—she goes on to take a job at the New York Times Magazine, publish an essay à la the one in Lenny Letter (although this time in the magazine), and take the subway—a mode of transportation that formerly gave her PTSD.

On the subway, she is enveloped by the voices of women’s comments on her essay, seemingly coming from the everyday people around her on the train. “I was also assaulted by a guy I thought was a friend,” says one. “Hearing your story gives me hope that one day I can tell mine too.”

The 28-year-old brings her account to Good Morning America , where she’s interviewed about the essay. “I’m hearing from women who have never shared their stories, from women who have carried this horrible thing with them alone for 38 years, and I just hope that no one has to ever do that again,” Ani says. “I hope that people feel compelled to share their stories, to talk about what happened to them, and to know that you have nothing to be ashamed of.”

“It’s very meta that it’s a fictional story, a fictional character, but there are even more elements that are inspired by my real life,” Knoll told Entertainment Weekly of the changes to the adaptation. “I like that we looked at the year that followed me writing the book and writing my essay and the reaction to it and going on a TV show to talk about it.”

While Knoll did change the ending of the film to make it more true to her own life, she was aided in doing so by Mila Kunis, who plays Ani with a haunted tenacity. The actor and the author worked together to shape the ending into something that felt communal.

“I know the ending is polarizing, which is what I think makes this movie so interesting. It’s not cookie cutter, and not everybody experiences this movie the same way,” Kunis told Entertainment Weekly. “A lot of people didn’t like it, but I fought so hard for it to stay in. I’m really glad that we won this fight because it’s so powerful.”

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Even the most perfect life is bound to be haunted by horrifying secrets. Luckiest Girl Alive is the latest addition to this year’s list of mystery thrillers. The movie is based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Jessica Knoll , which has been compared to the likes of Paula Hawkins’ The Girl on the Train and Gillian Flynn ’s Gone Girl . The film stars Mila Kunis as Ani FaNelli, the main protagonist whose ever-so-flawless life is threatened by a dark secret. Kunis is perhaps best known for her comedic roles, having played Jackie Burkhart in That ‘70s Show and starred in films like Forgetting Sarah Marshall . However, she has also had some great performances in darker movies before, including her role as Solara in The Book of Eli .

Joining her are Finn Wittrock as Luke Harrison, Scoot McNairy as Andrew Larson, Jennifer Beals as Lolo Vincent, and Connie Britton as Dina. Other cast members in Luckiest Girl Alive include Thomas Barbusca , Justine Lupe , Dalmar Abuzeid , Alexandra Beaton , Nicole Huff , Alex Barone , Chiara Aurelia , Carson MacCormac , and Gage Munroe . Lionsgate first announced plans for Luckiest Girl Alive in August 2015. Reese Witherspoon initially spearheaded the project as a producer under Pacific Standard but plans changed and production is now led by Picturestart, Made Up Stories, and Orchard Farm Productions. Mila Kunis was announced to star in February 2021, and the full cast was announced in July 2021. The film's principal photography began in June 2021 and ended in September 2021.

Luckiest Girl Alive is directed by Mike Barker , who has also worked on major television hits such as The Handmaid’s Tale and Fargo . Promising the same kind of visceral tension found in the original novel, you’ll find yourself on the edge of your seat watching this film. Here’s where you can catch Luckiest Girl Alive .

Related: Mila Kunis on Why ‘Family Guy’ Is the Greatest Job Ever and Making ‘Breaking News in Yuba County’ with Tate Taylor

What Is Luckiest Girl Alive About?

Here is the official synopsis for Luckiest Girl Alive:

Based on the best-selling novel, Ani FaNelli, a sharp-tongued New Yorker appears to have it all: a sought-after position at a glossy magazine, a killer wardrobe and a dream Nantucket wedding on the horizon. But when the director of a crime documentary invites her to tell her side of the shocking incident that took place when she was a teenager at the prestigious Brentley School, Ani is forced to confront a dark truth that threatens to unravel her meticulously crafted life.

Is Luckiest Girl Alive Coming to Movie Theaters?

Luckiest Girl Alive will be playing in select cinemas starting on September 30, 2022. But in case you're not that keen on watching the movie in theaters, there's some good news for you.

Is Luckiest Girl Alive Streaming Online?

Yes! Luckiest Girl Alive is set to be released on Netflix . As mentioned above the film will premiere in theaters first. You can catch the movie on Netflix a week after its theatrical premiere, specifically on October 7, 2022.

Watch on Netflix

Can You Stream Luckiest Girl Alive Without Netflix?

Sadly, no. You can only stream Luckiest Girl Alive on Netflix. If you’re not subscribed to Netflix yet, the streaming platform offers three plans you can choose from: Basic ($9.99 / month), Standard ($15.49), or Premium ($19.99). Depending on how many gadgets you plan to stream for, or how high the quality you’d like to watch the movie in, be sure to subscribe to a plan that meets your movie-watching needs!

Related: Finn Wittrock Talks Playing a Killer on 'Ratched' and 'American Horror Story' Season 10

Is There a Trailer For Luckiest Girl Alive?

The trailer for Luckiest Girl Alive was released by Netflix on September 6, 2022. The clip introduces us to the main protagonist Ani FaNelli (Mila Kunis), a successful soon-to-be editor at a glamorous New York magazine. With her career on the rise and her enviable love life, things are looking up for Ani. However, when a shockingly horrible truth from the past reappears in her life, things will never be the same again. The life that Ani has carefully crafted is now broken into pieces, and it’s up to her to pick up the shards and come clean to the people around her, and most importantly, to herself.

More Mystery Thrillers You Can Watch Now on Netflix

I Care a Lot : Marla Grayson ( Rosamund Pike ) is a professional, court-appointed guardian whose sense of self-assurance is through the roof. With her sheer cunningness and dubious racketing schemes, Marla seizes the assets of numerous, innocent elderly wards. But when she sets her target on Jennifer Peterson ( Dianne Wiest ), a super-rich retiree with no living family members to inherit her fortune, the tables turn for Marla. Little did she know that her latest “cherry” has her own dangerous secrets and deadlier connections to a violent gangster.

The Woman in the Window : Dr. Anna Fox ( Amy Adams ) is a child psychologist who has troubles of her own. Separated from her husband Edward ( Anthony Mackie ) and daughter Olivia ( Mariah Bozeman ), Anna falls into a deep pit of depression and lives by herself in an eerily vacant brownstone apartment in Manhattan. For ten long months, Anna battles severe panic attacks and agoraphobia, but one night, she decides to take a peek at her new tenants. However, her curiosity comes at a cost, and before long, she witnesses someone’s gruesome death. The troubled Anna struggles to come to grips with reality as she questions whether the murder really happened or if it's all just some hallucination.

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Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Luckiest Girl Alive’ on Netflix, an Uneven Psycho-Trauma Drama Starring Mila Kunis

Where to stream:.

• Luckiest Girl Alive

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Luckiest Girl Alive (now on Netflix) casts Mila Kunis in possibly her heaviest lead role yet, the protagonist of Jessica Knoll’s bestselling novel about a woman hounded by past traumas. The character is Ani Fanelli, who survived a brutal sexual assault and a school shooting as a teenager, and now finds her adult self torn between a projection of who she is and who she really is. It’s an undeniably powerful performance from Kunis, at the service of a film that struggles a bit to navigate tricky, complicated subject matter.

LUCKIEST GIRL ALIVE : STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: The past keeps creeping into Ani’s present. She can’t pick up a knife without recalling that day , or picturing herself plunging it into someone. It happens while she and her fiance Luke (Finn Wittrock) register for wedding gifts at the overpriced upscale kitchen-stuff emporium – then she suggests they go out for pizza. He teases her: Ani NEVER eats carbs! That’s because she’s obsessed with being fit, which is part of fitting into her role as the wife-to-be of an old-money Ivy League kid who gave her his Nana’s engagement bauble, which is so huge you expect the Joker to stage a heist for it at any moment. At the restaurant, Finn excuses himself to the restroom and Ani seizes the moment and wolfs down two slices like a desperate predator that finally snatched a bunny off a frozen barren plain.

Ani wasn’t always lean and thin. She also wasn’t Ani. She was Tiffany (Chiara Aurelia), the new kid on scholarship at the swanky private school, her mother (Connie Britton) obsessed with appearances, namely, appearing like they shop at Saks instead of TJ Maxx. It was a writing scholarship, and now Ani hammers out how-to-give-the-ultimate-beej advice pieces for The Women’s Bible, a mag that top-bills its sex advice and leavens it with the real writing Ani wishes she could do. She yearns for the New York Times Magazine byline, and it’s absolutely reachable; her editor (Jennifer Beals) is vying for an NYT position, knows a star when she sees one, and therefore keeps Ani under her wing.

But the past is really dogging Ani now – a documentary filmmaker desperately wants her to share the story of that time. Her side of what happened. Dean Barton (Alex Barone) is sharing his side on a book tour; he’s a high-profile gun-control advocate who wrote a memoir and alleges that Ani was in cahoots with the kids who shot up their school. Has alleged. Has always alleged. Since 1999, when it happened. And a little before that was an incident occurring in one of this movie’s searingly awful flashbacks, when Tiffany got drunk at a party and passed out and woke up in a series of bleary hazes as young Dean (Carson MacCormac) and a couple of his buddies gang-raped her. Afterwards, no one wanted to hear it. Not her mother, not her friends, not the headmaster. Only her teacher Mr. Larson (Scoot McNairy), who by coincidence found her bloody and dazed that night, tried to do something about it, and got fired for his trouble. They run into each other years later, also by coincidence, and he doesn’t recognize Tiffany. That was intentional. She’s Ani now – whoever that is.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: All the Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train comparisons are on the money – bestseller-to-film translations that are a provocative mix of the glib and the sordid. (For what it’s worth, Luckiest Girl falls in between the incandescent Gone Girl and the soapy The Girl on the Train .)

Performance Worth Watching: Kunis is a powerhouse, building on her muscular performances in Black Swan and Four Good Days . Her quiet-ball-of-rage, razor-tongued characterization of Ani is charismatic and memorable.

Memorable Dialogue: Ani: “My anger is like carbon monoxide. It’s odorless, colorless and completely toxic.”

Sex and Skin: Only the disturbing rape sequence.

Our Take: Luckiest Girl Alive is a discommodious mixture of riveting psychodrama, thick melodrama and upsetting traumadrama (which should officially be a subgenre by now) that Kunis does her damnedest to hold together. Of course, she can’t be in the flashbacks, which are the most troublesome pieces of this narrative, their unsettling imagery teetering just on the wrong side of distasteful exploitation. Director Mike Barker seems more interested in the gory details of a teenage girl being gunned down or the blood dripping down Tiffany’s leg than the story’s many, many thematic layers – social stigma, class struggles, the #MeToo movement, the challenges career women face, the gun control issue, single parenthood, the exploitation of trauma, the battle between sexes. Anything else we need to pile on poor Ani?

Adapting her novel to the screen, Knoll layers in voiceover narration with a vengeance, vicious commentary that Ani thinks but doesn’t dare say, except when her carefully constructed facade springs a leak, prompting a psychological come-to-Jesus moment with herself. At first, the voiceover plays like intrusive satire, but it soon becomes prevalent that she’s struggling to draw the line between the person inside her head and the character she outwardly projects to please her fiance and boss – just like the imagery from her past blurs into the present. This, the film insists, is how trauma works: It splits us in two and renders us unable to let go of the things that burden us.

And a lot of that is society’s fault, triggering Ani’s anger, the cruel outbursts that Luke discautiously calls “crazy.” Luckiest Girl presents this dichotomy cleverly and effectively, and Kunis navigates it with credible vulnerability and empathy. It may be more than what the film ultimately deserves – it frequently hinges on coincidence and predictable plot devices, and the pat, saccharine conclusion rests uneasily with its harsher tones. But one never fails to sense the passion in Knoll’s overtures, and Kunis wholeheartedly channels it.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Luckiest Girl Alive can be tonally haphazard and occasionally – beware: P-word impending – problematic , but it’s also frequently gripping, and rendered empathetic by an inspired Kunis.

Will you stream or skip the trauma drama #LuckiestGirlAlive on @netflix ? #SIOSI — Decider (@decider) October 9, 2022

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Read more of his work at johnserbaatlarge.com .

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Luckiest Girl Alive Review: Traumazine

• A fantastic turn from lead actress Mila Kunis
• Some truly powerful passages balancing a difficult tone
• Suffers from unfocused direction
• A stuffed screenplay that shifts in pace and mood

When "Luckiest Girl Alive" begins, it's hard to shake a sense of deja vu. Adapted for the screen by author Jessica Knoll from her own successful 2015 novel, the film feels of a piece with the same wave of post- "Gone Girl" novels it rode in on. The caustic wit, the subversion of white, middle class aesthetics, the general sense of dread as something violent and nefarious lurks beneath a comfortable, PSL & Pinterest vibe. But as much as that moment in popular fiction and mainstream thriller cinema has passed us by, this film still shows genuine promise. 

It stars Mila Kunis as Ani Fanelli, a magazine writer in New York City whose secret past is returning to haunt her just as she's planning a wedding. It's a great role for an unsung actress who rarely gets dramatic turns the size and weight of her comedic work, and the story itself is a compelling, if overwrought, prospect. Unfortunately, director Mike Barker, a veteran of British TV dramas, is no David Fincher. He lacks the necessary guile and gravitas to shape this unwieldy material into something focused and sharp enough to pierce through the veil of essentially being for Lifetime original movies what A24 outings like "The Babadook" and "Hereditary" were for the horror genre. 

It's a film held aloft by a terrific cast and some truly potent elements in the writing, but stifled by a paucity of bigger picture thinking. It's a shame to watch something so full of potential and so intermittently affecting be held back by an inconsistent visual language and the looming sense that it was made at the wrong time by the wrong people.

It girl, interrupted

"Luckiest Girl Alive" begins with a first act that feels almost like a joke. In establishing Ani's status quo, Knoll's script heavily relies on stilted voice-over narration, strip-mining her own source material for wholesale excerpts that must have read much better on the page than they sound coming out of Mila Kunis' mouth. We meet Ani as a shrewd, charming woman lamenting a disconnect between the carefully crafted identity she projects to the world around her, while alluding to a dicey past that manifests as abrupt cutaways to abstracted images of violence. 

One moment she's bragging about how well she plays her part as the soon-to-be wife of Luke Harrison (Finn Wittrock), the perfect, old-monied beau, while cutting up a slice of pizza with a fork and knife. The next, he's off to the bathroom, and she's stuffing her face with animalistic ferocity, then staging a spill she can blame on the waitress to account for the missing food when he returns. 

She writes scandalous felatio tip articles for a Cosmopolitan-esque publication called The Women's Bible, but her boss Lolo (Jennifer Beals) is promising to bring her along to The New York Times whenever the job offer is finalized. Luke wants her to move to London with him and get her MFA, but her desire to be on the masthead at a paper of regard is less about a childhood journalistic dream, but rather a deep seated need to cement herself as someone who matters, someone  credible . 

It all reeks of a weird kind of respectability politics that would be better off in the first 10 minutes of a Hallmark Christmas flick. But then Ani's tragic past begins to take shape, through flashbacks to the private school where she survived a mass shooting, and to the violent assault that preceded and complicated that later event. We can start to see why the zaftig Tiffani Fanelli (played in her younger years by Chiara Aurelia) wants so badly to become Ani Harrison, and get as far away from her overbearing mother (Connie Britton) and her toxic past as she can. 

But a documentary filmmaker is trying to re-litigate the tragedy for the cameras, largely due to a fellow survivor, the wheelchair bound Dean Barton (Alex Barone) running for public office on a gun control campaign. Dean has maintained for years that Ani helped plan the school shooting that robbed him of his ability to walk, but before letting that accusation linger for too long in the viewer's mind, we see that this finger pointing was a premature way to deflect from Dean being one of Ani's attackers. 

Kunis is dynamite in a role that asks quite a bit from her. We have to buy into the razor wit and calculated façade she's created in adulthood, as a self-professed people pleasing wind-up doll able to endear herself in every single situation she encounters. But she also has to be the believable product of Aurelia's awkward, pained youth, a lifetime of regret and self flagellation made manifest into this tenacious tulpa who can stand up as a grown-up and protect the little girl inside her in a way no one else would or could.

On the road to solidifying this unassailable alter ego, Ani loses more and more of her true self. She can't make a decision between The New York Times and London because she can't choose between herself and the trophy husband who only seems to love her when she's making it easy for him to. She also can't reconcile her own tangible innocence in the shooting with the fact that many of its victims were people she wished death upon for the horrors they subjected her and her friends to.

But, in between all of Ani's inner turmoil and the way that internal war affects her relationships, unpacking the twin tragedies of her life requires more nuance and care than a movie this stuffed can quite muster.

If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).

Girl in the mirror

"Luckiest Girl Alive" sings when it hews closely to Ani's journey to wrestle with her trauma, but it repeatedly falters whenever it has to linger on the bigger picture surrounding her. 

The film's many flashbacks to her school years come in and out at such a strange pace, and they present an uneasy reality this movie just can't seem to make heads or tails of. Setting aside how Ani's past is defined by two extremely heavy transgressions set off like bombs within the film's plot summary, the circumstances of both these events, and how tethered they are, is just too much to get into when over half the runtime needs to deal solely with Ani's present day and how the past has impacted her. 

This is, essentially, a movie that spends more time showing how scummy, entitled and awful the victims of a school shooting were then exploring why the petty class warfare of the rich kids versus the outcast freaks made the latter feel like blasting the former away with firearms was the only solution to an endless parade of abuse. It's a far cry from the American mythology of incels and bullied youth taking to violence over more nebulously defined slights by society at large. It  literally positions the school shooting as a strangely righteous bit of revenge, the third act of a Quentin Tarantino movie by another name . 

When it sticks to Ani's place in this predicament, we get some great moments. All the clunkiness of her earlier voiceover work feels worth it when she accidentally says something withering and cruel about a future in-law aloud. Barker and Knoll's tendency to cut around her chronology at will work well when they shift immediately from Ani's mom being messy at her dress fitting to her poking fun at her daughter's weight in the past. It's also great when Ani's genuinely triggered in the present by past visions we're seeing for the first time, and that haunting imagery gives way to palpable tension between her and her fiancé as a direct result.

Unfortunately, though, those individual bits that hold such power wind up strewn about between all the other puzzle pieces that don't always fit together flush, especially with a TV veteran at the helm throwing frequently incongruous visual approaches a the wall and hoping they stick.

But there are times in "Luckiest Girl Alive" where Mike Barker finds the right angles to capture what matters most. Mila Kunis obviously does the heavy lifting, but throughout the film, he constantly places her at canted angles around reflective surfaces she's never quite facing head on. Her identity is perpetually in flux, shirking loyalty to the self whenever it's necessary to move closer to the goals she set as a teenager. It's not until the film's final act that she reconciles her past with her present, resulting in a shot where she's backstage at a daytime TV show, perched in the make-up chair and surrounded by beauty mirrors shining back a merged, true self. One she can actually smile at.

This perfect moment dovetails into the film's closing moments, that feel like they're going to be a satisfying little callback to a chance encounter in Ani's youth that proved to be the "bat through the window" moment in her origin story. Instead, it goes for a snarky little bit that ends the film on the same lackluster note that discordantly interrupted so many of its best scenes. 

"Luckiest Girl Alive" is now available to stream on Netflix.

Review: ‘Luckiest Girl Alive’

Content warning: This piece contains descriptions of sexual assault, rape, gun violence, and PTSD .

Directed by Mike Barker and based on the novel of the same name by Jessica Knoll, who wrote the screenplay, Luckiest Girl Alive is a dark and dramatic thriller. It follows Ani FaNelli (Mila Kunis) during a particularly trying period in her life. A writer for Women’s Bible , a women’s health magazine, her job is to focus on stories about sexual pleasure, primarily that of heterosexual men. She’s up for the role of Editor of New York Times Magazine and this is her primary goal along with her fast-approaching wedding, just six weeks away, to Luke Harrison (Finn Wittrock). With her career and love life at important junctures, she is suddenly forced to look back at a tragedy from her teenage years; a school shooting in high school. Directly following the tragedy, her schoolmate Dean Barton (Alex Barone), paralyzed from the waist down as a result of the attack, insinuated that young Ani (Chiara Aurelia) was privy the shooting that was going to happen beforehand and might even have participated in the event. 

Returning to the present day, a documentary filmmaker, Aaron Wickersham (Dalmar Abuzeid) has contacted Ani to get her side of the story. Dean, now a popular gun-control advocate will be interviewed for the film. Ani’s carefully constructed life begins unraveling as she relives that day and the events leading up to the shooting. Luckiest Girl Alive uses nonlinear narration to tell Ani’s story both in the present and through flashbacks of the past, depicting how her life changes after deciding to take part in the documentary. The nonlinearity is a perfect representation of her headspace in the present day because she herself is having flashbacks. So this way, the audience is watching through her point of view. 

Ani is living a perfect life, ready to marry the perfect husband, and on her way to the perfect job. As one might expect, it’s too perfect to be real, but the illusion isn’t where we’d expect. She isn’t pushing herself to personal and professional perfection to convince others that she’s perfectly fine. On the contrary, it’s an illusion she’s set up specifically for herself. Her personality is the embodiment of Frank Sinatra’s famous words “the best revenge is a massive success”. Unfortunately, her vengeance is against none other than young Ani herself. She’s an unreliable narrator but the trope has a twist. The lack of reliability here isn’t a conscious choice on the part of the narrator, in stark contrast to Agatha Christie’s novel The Murder of Roger Ackroyd , which is widely considered to have made the narrative trick mainstream.

Ani derives satisfaction from people pleasing at her own behest. She allows her fiancé’s opinions to define her behavior around him — like how much food she should eat — in front of him, her table etiquette is refined and the moment he steps away, she’ll consume food like an “animal” as she states. The current focus of her journalism career is about pleasuring the male sexual partner, I believe this is a hidden attempt on Knoll’s part to give us a glimpse into her psyche. In one scene, Ani states, “Sometimes I feel like a wind-up doll. Turn my key and I’ll tell you exactly what you wanna hear.” There’s a tone of discontentment and sorrow in the delivery of that line. It’s as though she’s telling us that she wishes she wasn’t that way, but there’s also a sense of pride in the declaration like she’s proud of the fact that she can bend anyway the wind blows and thus never break. Or perhaps this is how she’s enacting revenge on herself for her lack of resolve as a teenager. 

It’s fairly late into the narrative that Ani’s sexual assault is revealed to audiences. During a house party after a school dance, she is raped by three male peers and friends. It’s clear that Ani is hiding a traumatized girl and a woman desperate for her truth to be validated within herself. People-pleasing, intrusive thoughts about violence and a general inclination to give everything an outward look of perfection are all, among others, tell-tale signs of dealing with trauma. While she’s out with Luke putting a wedding registry of cutlery together, she experiences an intrusive thought and imagines stabbing Luke with the knife she’s holding. This happens again at a dinner with Luke and her high school professor. Ani imagines stabbing her fiancé’s hand with the table knife after he makes a dismissive comment about the upcoming documentary. When the school shooting is brought up, it’s clear that the trauma she’s hiding isn’t only about surviving the shooting. She doesn’t say it out loud but insinuates through her attitude about Dean, that there’s more to the story. 

One lesser-discussed consequence of trauma is displaced anger. It’s especially common in adults who have had adverse experiences during their childhood . Luckiest Girl Alive depicts this case of displaced anger with clinical accuracy with Ani’s misdirected vengeance. Ani never reports her rapists to the authorities. She didn’t want to have to confront them or feel the shameful gaze of her Mother, who must be informed in order to involve the police. As an adult, she’s content with not telling the world her side of what happened during the school shooting or about her rape.  She’s dedicated herself to becoming a completely different person, inside and out, drastically changing her physical appearance by dieting and having a breast reduction. Ani defines herself by the darkest incidents in her life but refuses to let others do so and that’s why she’s comfortable staying silent.

However, if she shared her story with the world, it would no longer be just hers. And her personality would appear hollow to herself because it’d seem like it’s built on others’ perceptions. If she’s the only one judging herself by these standards, she can treat herself like a project, but if the world were to become privy to her story, she’d lose agency. Even in loss, there’s control, but only as long as we’re the ones choosing what we lose. Ani’s illusion of perfection is a form of control she exercises over herself. She hasn’t forgiven herself for becoming a rape victim. Consciously, she knows it was her rapists who stole her agency and she loathes them for it, but subconsciously, she holds herself accountable. That’s why she punishes herself by creating the visage of an ideal life, instead of the life she wants. What she genuinely wants is of no concern because Ani has dissociated from her true self to cope with her trauma.

Known in high school as TifAni, — “Tif” by her friends — she detaches herself from the person she used to be by dropping the Tif. She even rectifies someone at her office who calls her TifAni, by saying “Ani is pithier”. And that’s not just the name. Ani seems to be just a segment of the complete person TifAni , specifically molded to fit Ani’s current headspace with respect to both her future aspirations and her past trauma. Everything worth preserving of who she was, to contribute to creating the perfect life remains. While everything else has been buried along with the story of her rape. I do not intend to generalize for all victims of abuse, but having been a victim of physical abuse in high school and having experienced this particular consequence myself, I can vouch for the accuracy of the depiction of misdirected anger in Luckiest Girl Alive. It’s the primary reason I’m here advocating for it as a brilliant exploration of trauma.

Ani finally agrees to do the documentary because of the sad realization that she’s made herself a wind-up doll as a consequence of events that weren’t her fault. Her decision to do the documentary begins the journey of redemption she needed as opposed to what she thought she’d achieved by creating the perfect life for herself. The first stand she takes is confirming to Aaron that she’s to be referred to as a victim and not a survivor. This is an acknowledgment that she still feels powerless. She thought she had survived and succeeded because she had created an untouchable reputation and men could no longer control her fate, but when asked to label herself, she chooses the word victim, without hesitation, almost angrily. Underneath the “powerful woman” she projects herself to be lives a scared victim who never healed from her trauma. So much so that she feels intimidated by tender sex and only enjoys rough sexual activity because she’s subconsciously associated sex with violence since her assault. This is demonstrated when Luke requests her to slow down when she takes initiative in lovemaking and becomes increasingly rough with him, biting his lip. She eventually pushes him away after he takes over and touches her tenderly.

She’s finally reconciling the gap between Tif and Ani, slowly beginning to merge her inner self with the alter-ego she had molded out of contempt. In a show of unbelievable strength, she openly acknowledges her trauma and its effects on her, not once, but twice. To two men — the one that haunts her past, and the one who she is supposed to create her future with. She says it out loud, “I don’t take my anger out on anyone other than my fucking self”. We know from her body language that this is the first time she’s said these words out loud. While the moment is heartbreaking, it’s also affirmative because she’s finally accepting her situation and is ready to start the healing process. She no longer wants to hold herself accountable or keep her story hidden. She has found agency in the truth instead of carefully constructed faux perfection. She admits to Luke, “I don’t know what’s me and what part I invented to make people like me.” She is confronting her habit of lying to herself and I cannot stress how cathartic these two scenes are.

Ani’s journey isn’t really affected by what kind of documentary Aaron makes but by how she’s affected when participating in it. The story is hers and as long as someone else is telling it, she’ll be in the passenger seat. With her self-destructive patterns, she’s spent her entire life in the passenger seat, being driven by her idea of success. Whether realizing it or not, she’d been living off external validation. While her persona was developed as a punitive means of restricting herself and as armor to shield herself, it was only the approval of others that kept her going. 

Being able to deflect the criticisms of others but still feel under-confident enough to need external validation sounds paradoxical. Yet, I myself have lived through those patterns, and Luckiest Girl Alive provides me a sense of visibility I hadn’t expected to find. Moreover, the way Ani slowly inches her way back to the driver’s seat by consciously distancing herself from the situations and people that allowed her to thrive by lying to herself feels powerfully reminiscent of my own attempts to break away from self-destructive patterns.

While I don’t intend to launch into an unsolicited personal essay, this is definitely key to why I loved Luckiest Girl Alive so much. It’s a very harrowing watch if you can identify Ani’s pattern of behavior. In the end, the film rewards viewers’ patience by giving Ani her moments of confrontation and giving us a glimpse of how her healing journey begins. I saw myself reflected in the ways her trauma had manifested and also in the way she struggled through the film to acknowledge, let alone accept, that her perfection is entirely apparent. As a portrayal of the impacts of childhood trauma, it’s devastatingly honest. The way Ani denies her truth even to herself left me feeling drained at the halfway point because it came too close to my reality, but I’m glad I stuck with it. Witnessing Ani take her power back, finding love for her inner teen, the part of herself she’d shunned and kept quiet for most of her life, gave me just the sense of revival I needed. 

I’m grateful to Baker, Knoll, and the entire crew for making the journey visual and not just emotional. A special thanks to Kunis, who perfectly embodied the damaged persona I never thought would get portrayed so accurately and Knoll for creating this character and story. It has its narrative flaws and its execution isn’t perfect, but Luckiest Girl Alive is a powerful film in its depiction of trauma.

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‘Luckiest Girl Alive’ Review: A Flawed But Compelling Bestseller Retelling

Dir. mike barker — 2.5 stars.

Dark messaging, childhood trauma, and shocking violence coalesce in “Luckiest Girl Alive.” The Netflix film is based on Jessica Knoll’s 2015 New York Times bestselling book of the same name. However, due to its darker themes, the film has also found itself mired in controversy , with viewers urging Netflix to add a trigger warning to the beginning of the film.

“Luckiest Girl Alive” follows New York writer Ani FaNelli (Mila Kunis), who is asked to take part in a true-crime documentary about the school shooting that occured at her high school. While the movie presents itself as a seemingly light story about a writer in New York planning for her wedding, “Luckiest Girl Alive” progressively adopts a darker tone in its dialogue, as well as in its graphic scenes of violence. As a film, “‘Luckiest Girl Alive” succeeds in delivering a strong message that involves complex themes. However, it is in the film’s core scenes of violence and trauma that it fails to reach its potential.

Kunis shone throughout this film, delivering lines effectively and performing heavier scenes with a commendable skill. Ani FaNelli requires compelling portrayal because she is in recovery from multiple traumatic events, and Kunis steps up to the task. She surprises in both light-hearted and particularly tense scenes with the way she is able to embody the weight of her character’s past as the film progresses. About half of Kunis’s scenes depict her engaging in pre-wedding activities believably and naturally and add a brilliant contrast to her tense form and pained expressions when she speaks about Ani’s teenage years. The sharp dissonance in these states of being highlights her ability to seamlessly shift from a writer to a survivor.

Chiara Aurelia, who plays the teenage Ani FaNelli, similarly impresses in her portrayal of the horrific events that occurred during Ani’s high school years. Despite having to depict horrific displays of repeated sexual assault, Aurelia effectively conveys Ani’s complex emotions and behaviors in many hard-to-watch scenes. In addition, the dialogue of the film is well-written and effective in conveying both the daily conversations of the characters and scenes of tragedy.

Despite compelling performances, “Luckiest Girl Alive” falls short in a familiar way: in its use of flashbacks to reveal past events. The plot of the film is based on the tragedies that Ani encountered, however, it is unclear to the reader until the later half of the film how Ani and her classmates were truly involved in this horrific event. While it leaves watchers in the dark for a majority of the film, this strategy initially works well for the film. It depicts the heavy toll the event still had on Ani’s daily life and the long term effects that still reverberated in her life, rather than simply recounting her past. However, this leads to ultimately confusing introductions of characters and relationships.

As a result, “Luckiest Girl Alive” disappoints in the most pivotal moments of Ani’s life. While the film’s brevity during these teenage scenes can be beneficial in avoiding repetitiveness, these parts of the film are confusing due to a lack of introduction or context for new characters and the connections between the main character and surrounding characters being made only after these scenes have already passed. Furthermore, it would have been more effective to display more context of Ani’s home life and relationships with her social circle and mother, in order to better lay out the story to viewers. In speaking about her own reasons for writing the book, Knoll said the book was based on her own experiences in high school:

"There were these dueling things inside of me. I desperately craved the release of getting my story out on paper, and the validation of recognizing what had happened to me as rape. I needed that,” Knoll said.

Knoll’s experiences help shine a light on the main messaging of the film. Despite confusing scenes and relationships, the film effectively conveys powerful messaging about trauma and the label of “a victim.” Whether it be Kunis and Aurelia’s performances or a love for Knoll’s book, “Luckiest Girl Alive” is a film with important takeaways that should not be overlooked.

—Staff writer Monique I. Vobecky can be reached at [email protected] . Follow her on Twitter @moniquevobecky .

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Movie Review: Luckiest Girl Alive

Netflix Originals are often hit-or-miss. While they did churn out movies and TV shows that became iconic (and deservedly so), the company also had its fair share of meh to downright-bad adaptations. Their latest mystery film, Luckiest Girl Alive , is, fortunately, not one of the latter.

Luckiest Girl Alive is a novel by American author Jessica Knoll. Published in 2015, it wasn’t long before her debut work became a New York Times Bestseller.

The story followed 28-year-old Ani who, at first glance, seemingly had everything in life — a stellar career as an editor in a women’s magazine, a doting, handsome fiancé who comes from an affluent family, and a beautiful apartment in New York City.

Credit: Luckiest Girl Alive

Ani is glamorous, and elegant, and carries herself well. She says the right things at the right time. But, as expected in stories like this, she harbors a dark secret.

Warning: Spoilers Ahead

Although she now goes by the name Ani, people in her hometown used to call her TifAni. As a teenager, she went through horrifying events that altered the very fiber of her being. First, she was assaulted by a group of boys from her own class. She initially sought help following the incident, but since the boys involved were both popular and rich, it was Ani who was bullied by her schoolmates. She eventually became a social pariah.

Not long after, she also became the victim of a school shooting. The other survivors pointed to her as a possible accomplice because not only did she know the two suspects but also because of how she interacted with them during the shooting.

Unlike the Book, It Was Fast-Paced

The book started a bit slow, whereas the film captured the audience’s attention from the get-go. Perhaps it had something to do with Mila Kunis playing the lead character. The A-list actress had always been captivating, but she was born to play Ani.

One of the scenes where she stood out was when Ani had her mask on and was the perfect, pleasant woman while the audience got a glimpse of what was really going on in her mind with her internal monologue. It was both creepy and impressive, especially during those times when her carefully curated facade almost slipped.

The big reveal wasn’t too explosive as there were bits and pieces shown whenever Ani had flashbacks. It was fairly easy to put the pieces together. Even so, the story didn’t feel like it was rushed.

Unlike the Book, Ani Was Likable – Kind Of

The thing about the book version of Ani is she always had something to say about other women — none of which was remotely nice. Book Ani often looked down on other women—their choice of hairstyle, clothing, and footwear. It didn’t matter if they were kind to Ani; in her world, everyone else was beneath her. Interestingly, the author had always been aware of this reaction toward Ani. She previously addressed it in an interview with The New York Times.

“The knee-jerk reaction is to dismiss Ani as vain and vapid, ” Knoll said. “But when we reward women for showing their full range of humanity, warts and all, when we give their struggles weight, we allow for the possibility that their flaws and stories can endear, inspire and move us, just like those of men.”

In the film, however, people were more focused on what events transpired in her high school and less on her comments about her officemates. That was the good thing about the adaptation because it didn’t beat around the bush.

It Was Based on a True Story

One of the things that might shock viewers who aren’t familiar with the book is the fact that the entire story of Luckiest Girl Alive is partially based on Knoll’s personal experience when she was 15. Knoll revealed it a year after her book was released.

She even wrote a piece for Lenny Letter titled What I Know . Here is an excerpt:

“Like Ani, I sometimes feel like a wind-up doll. Turn my key and I will tell you what you want to hear. I will smile on cue. My anger is odorless, colorless, and tasteless. It’s completely toxic.”

Yes, those were the same words Ani said when she finally confronted Dean Barton after his book signing event.

It’s a Must-Watch

As far as adaptations go, this was one of the good ones. Knoll herself changed the ending, and it was a great decision on her part. By the end of the film, the audience was 100% behind Ani. We didn’t just understand her struggles and how the events in her life shaped her but we also applauded her for her strength and tenacity.

Mila Kunis did a fantastic job.

Luckiest Girl Alive  isn’t a perfect movie, but it’s good enough to spend your entire Friday night watching it.  Mila Kunis

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