Movie Review: Jessica Darling’s It List

Release Date: June 21, 2016
Rating: Not Rated
Running Time: 1 hour 19 minutes

Based on the hit books, Jessica Darling—a smart, witty, opinionated girl heading into 7th grade—wasn’t too concerned about where she’d fit in the middle school hierarchy. But before her first day of school, her older sister—the super popular Bethany, now in college—decides to help by giving her the “IT List”—a cheat sheet on how to navigate the middle school maze and rise to the top of the popularity chain. The instructions appear simple enough, but, like life, nothing is as easy as it seems and Jessica soon realizes that embracing your true self is much more important than any “IT List.”

While I haven’t read the middle grade Jessica Darling’s It List trilogy or young adult Jessica Darling five book series by Megan McCafferty, I have heard nothing but good things and after watching the movie, I’m tempted to dive into the series.

The story is pretty standard…girl enters middle school and tries to find her place on the social ladder while remaining true to herself. What makes this story so fun, worth watching is just how relatable Jessica Darling and the characters in her lives are and the humor that comes with it. It’s pretty great to be able to watch this movie and not be in this situation anymore but watching the movie will definitely take you back to when you were in junior high and trying to navigate your way through everything.

At first, yes, the movie did come off as a bit cheesy but once I settled in and really allowed myself to dive into this world again, I felt right at home. I loved the characters and the many different dynamics that we come across in school shown here. I enjoyed seeing a solid balance between Jessica’s school life and home life. I loved how naive and innocent Jessica is about popularity, the reader knowing that surely that naivety changes with many books ahead in the YA series. I loved that she’s smart but that doesn’t mean you don’t make mistakes…and after trial and error and trial and error, she finally realizes what she needs to do to be happy. Most of all, I love, love, love that she knows and willingly accepts the fact that it’s more important to be happy than to be in a crowd.

Jessica Darling’s It List is back to school comfort food for the young soul. I really enjoyed it and I’d highly recommend this movie and even the books which I haven’t even read to all of the young readers and viewers out there, girl or boy. There’s something for everyone to relate to and enjoy here so be sure to check out the movie On Demand, Amazon, or iTunes today!

Jessica Darling’s It List is available on Digital HD and Video On-Demand now.