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Barely Legal
Movie

Barely Legal

2011 • Unknown

Woke Score
6
out of 10

Plot

Sue, Cheryl and Lexi are three college freshmen who have been best friends since they were born on the same day. They do something special every year for their birthday, but on their eighteenth, they set out to lose their virginity.

Overall Series Review

The film follows three eighteen-year-old college freshmen who commit to losing their virginity as a birthday ritual. The narrative centers on their raunchy and largely unsuccessful attempts to find partners at a large house party. The main plotlines see one girl catching her long-term boyfriend cheating, another searching for a mystery sexual partner, and the third, a 'naive and religious' character, seeking to seduce a Bible study classmate. The men encountered are generally incompetent, toxic, or unavailable. The climax of the film subverts the initial goal for two of the three friends: one girl's quest for a male partner ends with her discovering she is a 'repressed lesbian' and finding fulfillment with a female love interest, while the religious character is rejected and turns to self-pleasure with household objects. The film exists primarily as a low-budget sex comedy that uses shock value and subversion of traditional tropes.

Categorical Breakdown

Identity Politics2/10

The narrative does not center on themes of race, systemic oppression, or the vilification of whiteness; the characters' conflicts are solely focused on sexual self-discovery and failed relationships, aligning with a meritocracy of desire. Casting decisions appear to be based on genre convention rather than political diversity mandates.

Oikophobia4/10

The film's setting in an affluent American party culture suggests a deconstruction of the home environment, with parents entirely absent and the house serving as a backdrop for hedonism. This represents a deconstruction of the institution of the family unit, but the focus remains on sexual antics rather than a grand critique of Western civilization or heritage.

Feminism7/10

The core plot is driven by the women's collective and individual goals for sexual fulfillment, depicting them as the sole actors in their lives who determine their own path. Male characters are primarily portrayed as either bumbling, incompetent, or toxic figures who impede the women's goals, creating a strong pattern of male emasculation and inadequacy. The final relationships celebrate personal career/sexual fulfillment over any hint of family or natalism.

LGBTQ+8/10

Alternative sexualities are a central plot resolution, as one of the main characters explicitly realizes she is a 'repressed lesbian' after failing with men, immediately consummating her new same-sex relationship. The film also features a secondary male character, whose intense religious devotion is revealed to be a coded message for being homosexual. This centering of alternative sexualities and the explicit deconstruction of the traditional male-female pairing is pervasive.

Anti-Theism8/10

Traditional religion is depicted solely through the character of Sue, who is described as 'naive and religious.' Her attempt to engage with her faith-based community for a sexual encounter is met with coded rejection from a character whose devotion is a cover for his homosexuality. Her immediate and dejected abandonment of this religious pursuit for masturbation with vibrating objects functions as a clear mockery of faith, suggesting a spiritual vacuum and moral relativism.