“Darby and the Dead” fails to portray a proper high school movie.

“Darby and the Dead” is another teen movie that embellishes and unrealistically reflects teenage behaviors and personalities. This is probably why the movie went straight to a streaming company rather than being shown in the theaters.

“Darby and the Dead” is about a teenage girl who can see and talk to spirits after a near-death experience when she was a child.  The main character, Darby makes a job out of spending spirits’ loved ones a final goodbye message. The popular girl in the movie, Capri, dies from a freak accident when trying to straighten her hair. Capri can’t accept that she’s dead and forces Darby to help carry out her “Sweet 17” party that she had planned before dying.

The plot of the movie itself was not very interesting. It is just another clique movie where the outcast is transformed by the popular girl, but is then blinded by her popularity.

Leading actress, Riele Downs, plays Darby. Before this dreadful movie, Riele Downs was in the popular Nickelodeon TV Show, “Henry Danger,” which was a great show to watch as a kid. It is apparent that Riele Downs has downgraded the quality of film production since her time on the show.

Not only was the movie completely unrealistic, but the acting was also poor and lifeless. Downs seemed emotionless throughout the whole film and had a monotone voice. Downs’ character even tried to seem edgy and careless, but this was executed very poorly. The cast members were obviously in their twenties and failed to come across as teenagers. They appeared to be trying too hard to be comical while saying lines that weren’t even funny.

Sophomore Bella Mora said, “I have seen the movie and it was very predictable.”

The movie also used many “Gen Z” terms that were overdone and difficult to hear. One of the worst being, “You’re totally gaslighting me right now.” 

Mora said “If you want to kill some time and make fun of the characters, it can be watched on Hulu.”

The only emotion evoked from this movie was boredom because of how bad everything was, from the chronically unfunny jokes to the out-of-date fashion choices. Overall, “Darby and the Dead” was out of touch and will not be winning a Golden Globe anytime soon. 

Sophomore Jazmin Ruiz said, “I haven’t heard of the movie and it seems interesting to watch.”