Sierra Burgess Is A Loser: The 5 Different Ways The Movie COULD’VE Ended – And Why Veronica Should’ve Been The Main Protagonist Instead

Noah Centineo has become, what I call, the new Netflix heartthrob, since he starred in the ‘To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before’ movie trilogy as Peter Kavinsky. He’s appeared in more Netflix movies (and a TV show) that I can count since his career skyrocketed by the massive success of the movie franchise, which was based on the book trilogy written by Jenny Han, who was also behind Amazon Prime’s ‘The Summer I Turned Pretty.’ His 2010’s and 2020’s success could be compared to that of Molly Ringwald in the 1980’s following the massive success of ‘Sixteen Candles’, a movie which ironically made a cameo in the first very ‘To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before’ movie.

Speaking of the 80’s, Cantineo starred in the 2018 movie, ‘Sierra Burgess Is A Loser’, which was released about two weeks following ‘To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before.’ But unlike ‘To All The Boys’, ‘Sierra Burgess Is A Loser’ was a massive…DISASTER. It was such a disaster that I don’t even understand why or how it was green-lit to be made, and whoever did agree for it to be made should seriously be fired. The movie, which also starred Shannon Purser as Sierra, Kristine Froseth as Sierra’s nemesis, Veronica, and RJ Cyler as Sierra’s best friend and confidant, Dan, was meant to be uplifting, heartwarming, and according to Netflix, swoon worthy. Instead, it was cringe worthy and disturbing. It tried to add a 1980’s feel to it and make it seem as though we’re watching a classic John Hughes movie, even adding 1980’s legends Lea Thompson and Alan Ruck as Sierra’s parents, but…OMG! I’m a big fan of 1980’s classics like ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’, ‘The Breakfast Club’, and of course, ‘Back To The Future’, but that was just garbage compared to those.

‘Sierra Burgess Is A Loser’ follows none other than Sierra Bergess herself. She’s a teenage girl who’s not considered to be pretty by beauty standards, but is very smart, charming, and funny. She’s seemingly happy and confident in herself, at least when we first see her. In fact her confidence is revolutionary, especially considering how cruel high school can be. We see her constantly being bullied, particularly by Veronica, the high school queen-bee and mean girl. When Veronica is out at a restaurant with her two friends, Jamey, played by Cantineo, gets the courage to come up to her and ask for her phone number. As she sees that he’s with his two nerdy-looking, she feels too good for him, and gives him Sierra’s number, which she took from her tutoring as at school, instead.

Of course, Veronica does so to manipulate and embarrass Sierra. However, she ends up doing all those things to Jamey. He texts Sierra, thinking he’s texting Veronica. Instead of telling him that it was the wrong number, Sierra goes along with Veronica’s scheme and pretends to be her. Though Sierra is smart, funny, and confident and happy with herself, she’s an obvious cripple when it comes down to love. That’s why she takes the situation and uses it to her own personal gain. We see Sierra and Jamey flirtatiously text and talk on the phone. Eventually, Jamey asks Sierra, again, thinking he’s been talking to Veronica the entire time, to talk on video.

Despite this being yet another opportunity to come clean, Sierra takes matters into her own hands. She comes to Veronica and makes a deal with her – Veronica goes along with the scheme and pretends to be on her on a video call with Jamey in exchange for Sierra tutoring Veronica to make her look smart for the sake of her college boyfriend, who recently broke up with her because he didn’t think she was smart enough for him. Veronica agrees, goes along with the scheme by going on video with Jamey and pretending to be Sierra by lip synching Sierra’s words, and even sending Jamey a ‘sexy pic.’

Jamey then asks Sierra, yet again thinking he’s talking to Veronica, out on a date. Sierra asks Veronica to go on the date with him. Though hesitant, she agrees. She goes to the movies with Jamey, and Sierra is there too, looking like she’s spying on them and planning to murder them both. While at the movie theatre, Sierra texts Veronica what to say to Jamey. When they’re outside by his car and Sierra hides under it, Jamey tries to kiss her. Veronica breaks the moment and tells him to close his eyes, and gives Sierra a signal to kiss him instead. Sierra does, all while Jamey has his eyes closed and thinking he’s actually kissing Veronica, and hides again and switches places with Veronica as soon as he opens his eyes. Sexual assault, people!! The movie is literally promoting rape and rape culture. And the fact that it’s a man being sexually assaulted might’ve made it even worse. This is why men have such a hard time admitting they were sexually assaulted. Statistics show that 1 in 6 men experience sexual assault in their lifetime. But I’m fairly certain the numbers are actually much higher than that. It’s movies like this that makes it seem that there’s no such thing as sexual assault in the male spectrum. Nevertheless, we’re all just meant to think of that specific being a cute, romantic moment between the two.

Before the date happened, another despicable event happened at the hands of Sierra, and in hindsight, Dan, her best friend, who encouraged her to do it. As Sierra and Dan are talking about Sierra’s…Urgh, Veronica’s…date with Jamey, they see him from a distance playing catch with his brother. Dan tells Sierra she should come up to him and pretend to be deaf to avoid speaking to him as he’d recognize his voice. She does, and uses sign language when Jamey asks what her name is. It turns out that Jamey knows sign language as his brother is deaf. The actor who plays Jamey’s brother is deaf in real life, and he himself criticized the joke making fun of disabled people. Nyle DiMarco, who is won ‘America’s Next Top Model’ in 2015 and is also deaf, certainly had something to say about it when the movie first came out. He tweeted at the time, ‘So one of my close friends’ deaf brother is in Sierra Burgess. When I learned, I was elated. Finally more deaf actors/representation & ASL inclusion in films,” DiMarco tweeted. “….Only to find out the deaf character was written and used for a terrible joke. PS — pretending to be deaf is NOT ok.’

I really couldn’t have said it better myself. I’m not deaf. But I have cerebral palsy and epilepsy. There’s a big difference between laughing WITH someone and laughing AT someone. That was laughing AT someone. It’s tacky and irresponsible. And yet, in the movie, it’s seen as something the viewers are supposed to romanticize Sierra’s actions and root for her. Ableism is a real issue in society, and it’s movies like this that make its targeted young audience believe that not only is it okay, but is funny as well. That particular scene between Sierra, Dan, Jayme and his brother wasn’t funny at all. On the contrary, it unintentionally became an educational moment for its young audience on what NOT to do and how NOT to treat disabled people, and if anything, I hope parents during advantage of that.

So what is ableism, you ask? It’s exactly what Sierra did when she pretended to be deaf by avoiding having to speak to Jamey because he’d already heard her voice. It’s the discrimination and social prejudice against people with disabilities. Ableism is based on the false idea that people with disabilities are inferior to able-bodied people and need to be “fixed”. But there isn’t just one type of discrimination. There are several. Examples of ableism include:

Ableist language: Using terms or expressions that devalue people with disabilities.

Microaggressions: Belittling someone’s need for assistance, complaining about accessible parking, or asking to pray for someone with a disability.

Stereotyping: Assuming that people with disabilities have a poor quality of life or are unhealthy.

This makes me heartbroken because it made me realize that, in my own life, I’d experienced ableism at the hands of even people closest to me; people that were supposed to be my family and friends. Sierra doesn’t seem to have any sort of remorse for her lack of empathy. On the contrary, she was proud of herself and happily tells Dan that her and Jamey had a moment together. It’s not only ableism, but brain washing at its absolute finest as well.

Following his date with Sierra…Urgh, Veronica…Jamey meets Veronica on the football field and kisses her. Sierra sees this through the window and automatically assumes the worst in Veronica. As revenge to get back at Veronica, Sierra hacks into Veronica’s instagram account and publishes a picture of her college boyfriend with ‘Dumped over DM’ text written on it for the entire school to see. Betrayed, Veronica comes clean to Jamey about her and Sierra’s scheme. Jamey then recognizes Sierra’s voice as she tries to defend herself and tells both of them to stay away from him. Veronica then confronts Sierra and tells her, ‘ I told you things I haven’t told anyone. You think I’m mean. You should check the mirror, because your looks are the least ugly thing about you.’ Sierra goes home following the game, and tearfully confronts her parents on everything that’s happened to her, even has the audacity to blame them for all that she’d done.

Nevertheless, Sierra ends up having her ‘happy ending.’ She records her song, ‘Sunflower’ and sends it to Veronica as an apology. Veronica then goes to Jamey and gives him the recording. Jamey comes to Sierra’s house, gives her a sunflower, and tells her that…she’s exactly his type, and that maybe she’s not someone he’d even take notice in the real world, but she’s exactly what he wants. Sierra apologizes to him, but only after he apologizes to her, and they go to the school dance together. Sierra sees her (only) two friends at the dance, and the three immediately embrace with happiness.

WHAT?!!!??!??!

The one thing the filmmakers got right is the title. Sierra Bergess IS, most certainly, a loser. There’s no doubt about that. In fact, she’s such a loser that when you search the title on Google in the search bar, it suggests to search ‘Sierra Burgess is a big loser.’ That’s how much of a loser Sierra Burgess is. Don’t get me wrong, it could’ve been a good movie; a great movie, in fact. Ableism, homophobia and transphobia aside, had Sierra not gotten her ‘happy ending’, it would’ve been a much more compelling story. In fact, had the movie given a different ending, it would’ve actually been a story that NEEDED to be told. And so, here are just some examples and suggestions of how the movie COULD’VE and SHOULD’VE ended:

• Sierra comes to Jamey’s house to apologize to him for everything she’s done; and not in the same way that she apologized in the movie, but a genuine f*cking apology. He accepts her apology, and they agree friends, or acquaintances, but never to be involved in a romantic way.
• Sierra coming to apologize to Jamey for everything she’d done; and again, not in the same way as she did in the movie, because it was absolute sh*t of an apology. He accepts her apology, and she encourages him to get to know Veronica because she’s a great girl.
• Sierra apologizes to both Dan and Veronica first individually by actually talking to them rather than her writing and recording a song. They accept her apology, but they’re not as close as they used to be. She then goes to apologize to Jamey, but he doesn’t accept her apology and he doesn’t want to see her ever again.
• Jamey doesn’t appear at all after telling both Sierra and Veronica to stay away from him at the football game when he finds out about the scheme. Sierra realizes she treated both Veronica and Dan unfairly, and she tries to apologize to them both and actually talk things through. Despite the apologies, neither Dan nor Veronica want to ever have anything to do with her. Therefore, Sierra ends up alone.
• The movie ending with the football game being the very last scene. Jamey finds out about the scheme he became a victim of at the hands of Veronica and Sierra. Veronica confronts Sierra, and it being the last time they ever see each other. Dan has had enough with Sierra’s personality and ends the friendship altogether. Sierra goes home and up to her room, crying her eyes out because she realizes she messed up and lost great people in her life. She writes a song; not for Veronica or Jamey or Dan, but for herself.

OR…

The movie could’ve went in an entirely different direction and had Veronica be the protagonist instead of the villain, and Sierra a supporting character with the same amount of screen time as Dan; and Dan having more screen time than he did in the actual movie. We can even remove Jamey and Dan altogether from the storyline as they didn’t even do much to the story. I’d say that Dan was more of a trophy for the film to add diversity – a Black, gay man. But that diversity wasn’t even implemented well. It was tacky. He didn’t add much value to the story. It’s the same with Jamey. He didn’t add much to the story. He was a trophy. He was the pretty boy with the disabled brother. Maybe if we didn’t have him included in the story, we wouldn’t such problematic factors such as ableism and the promotion of rape in the movie.

The thing about Sierra is that she’s not a good person. She’s actually disgusting. I didn’t even mention that, in the movie, when Sierra and Veronica are at a high school party, Sierra overhears Veronica’s ex-boyfriend, who is in college (what’s he doing hanging out with a bunch of high schoolers?), tell his friend he called Veronica stupid to make her insecure so that she’d sleep with him. Though not shown on-screen, it’s heavily implied that they did sleep together. The next day, when Veronica comes to Sierra in tears telling her Spencer (her ex) broke up with her, Sierra says absolutely NOTHING!

I think it’s safe to say that Sierra isn’t the type of character to root for. I certainly didn’t when I watched the movie. I wanted her to fail. I was desperately waiting for her to fail. Richard Branson once said, ‘Do not be embarrassed by your failures, learn from them and start again.’ That’s exactly what Sierra needed in order to learn and grow from all her wrongdoings, which was literally the entire movie. Instead, there were absolutely no consequences. Sierra just magically gets the guy and her friends back, simply with a song. The whole premise of the movie is that it’s what’s on the inside that matters. But just as Veronica told Sierra, her looks are the least ugly thing about her. She didn’t deserve the ‘happy ending’ that she got in the movie. She didn’t deserve for the good people in her life to suddenly forgive her after she did the unforgivable. She needed them to not forgive her in order to actually better herself.

Sierra isn’t a character that anyone would ever want to aspire to be. She’s the type of character anyone would aspire NOT to be. As I watched the movie and its storyline progress, I was actually rooting for Veronica. Let’s get one thing straight: the movie is not so much about the love story between Sierra and Jamey, but rather about the blossoming friendship between Sierra and Veronica. An unlikely bond came from a situation that, personally, made me want to puke. But it wasn’t even Sierra who made their friendship so beautiful; it was Veronica. Sierra was the one who made the viewers question why the friendship continued in the first place. Since the start of their friendship, Veronica grew as a person. Unlike Sierra, she proved herself to be a good person, and it had nothing to do with Sierra tutoring her to make her seem smarter than she really is. She proved herself to be more than just a pretty face. At the football field, Veronica told Sierra that her looks were the least ugly thing about her. Well…in the end, Veronica’s looks were the least beautiful thing about her.

Kristine Froseth, the woman behind Veronica, spoke in an interview with Teen Vogue in 2018 on what exactly made Veronica become an armor to the storyline, and she credited it to Sierra and Veronica’s female friendship. She said, ‘I haven’t read that many scripts that actually have that aspect to it; women usually compete or compare or undermine and undercut each other. Their relationship is built off fighting off each other’s insecurities. They become support systems and they realize they’re not as different as they thought they were because of the social hierarchy and what people assume. They just help each other fight off their demons and it’s really beautiful how they become better versions of themselves because of each other. A lot of younger girls have been DMing me and saying it’s been lovely to see a female friendship that strong on the screen. That it’s not only about getting the guy and the girl being the love interest in the story, but it’s more about Sierra and Veronica. I was really happy to just feel how human she was.

And of her character, Froseth said, ‘She has so much inner conflict and struggles with her family. I just understood why she was the way she was and I really wanted to tell her story. I can’t speak on behalf of anyone else, but in high school, I would easily judge someone based on who they were at school when they really had so much conflict or a back story that I didn’t know about. I think that’s really important that people don’t just assume, that they don’t judge a book by its cover. It’s a shame how easy it is now. You’re anonymous and people get so much more courage to say nastier things because they’ll never be caught. It’s truly heartbreaking that there’s so much hate. It’s hard to just tell someone to just do their best and shut it out because it will obviously hurt you, it hurts me when it happens to me. You just have to realize, or try your best to understand where it’s coming from. With Veronica, it’s all her own insecurities that she’s putting out on others. I think if you understand a bit more where it’s coming from it will help lessen the blow.’

I agree with Froseth…

…., but only to a degree. When we first see Veronica, we think of her as the more modern Regina George. She’s unkind. She’s mean, vile, and vicious. She’s ruthless. She cares about status and class more than anything, and will put anyone down if she thinks she’s above them; as we see by how she treated both Sierra and Jamey at the very beginning. We, as the audience are meant to believe that we’re supposed to hate her, and we do; at least by how she treats the two future lovers who practically only met only thanks to Veronica’s own scheme. As soon as we see her home life, though, when Sierra comes over to tutor her, we suddenly find ourselves empathizing with her.

We suddenly come to understand where Veronica’s mean spirit comes from. It doesn’t mean that this behaviour is condoned, but it’s understood. As Veronica and Sierra get to know each other on a deeper level and they begin to open up to each other more and more, Veronica reveals that her father left her mother for a 22-year-old younger woman. And yet, when we see her mother, played by ‘This Is Us’ actress, Chrissy Metz, she continually says that Veronica’s father is dead, and changes her story each time. Veronica also reveals to Sierra that it’s her overbearing mother that pushes cheerleading and popularity on her. We see Veronica’s mother reprimands Veronica for studying because it won’t get her far with the boys.

We come to see Veronica in a different light, and we come to realize that it’s not necessarily her own doing that she is the way she is. It’s rather that she is the way she is because of what her mother tells her she ought to be. I personally felt sorry for her, and I almost cried with her when she broke down in tears in front of Sierra; just the same as I didn’t feel sorry for Sierra; just the same as I wanted Sierra to lose everything she had going for her and never gain it back. My several previous blog entries heavily discussed parental abuse and parental neglect, as well as toxic parenting as a whole. I could at least explain Veronica’s sh*tty behaviour by her mother’s treatment of her, as well as her mother’s sh*tty personality that she has to deal with and witness on a daily basis, and her obvious struggles with mental health. In contrast, I couldn’t blame Sierra’s parents for her sh*tty behaviour. She had genuinely great parents who were there for her, supported her, and cheered her on. They were great parents. They were great people in general.

The most interesting thing about ‘Sierra Burgess Is A Loser’ is the friendship between Sierra and Veronica. It’s the one positive thing about the movie – the representation of female friendships. Sierra and Veronica’s unlikely friendship became the only positive thing both of them got from the entire scheme that they played on Jamey. Veronica made Sierra see that she wasn’t a loser like she thought she was, and Sierra made Veronica see that she wasn’t as dumb as she thought she was. They believed in each other. Their time spent together while Sierra was tutoring Veronica in Veronica’s bedroom was morphed into giggles and selfies. These scenes were the most wholesome part of the entire movie.

I’m by no means looking for perfection from a character; not the supporting characters, and not the main character. There’s no such thing as perfection. No person is ever perfect, and if a character was perfect, especially the main character, there would be no movie at all. There were two main differences between Sierra and Veronica

• Veronica grew and learned from the mistakes she made. Sierra didn’t. She didn’t learn anything whatsoever. She stayed absolutely the same, and she saw nothing wrong with what she did. She blamed others for her actions. She blamed her parents, she blamed Veronica, she blamed being ugly on catfishing Jamey, etc.
• Veronica took accountability for the mistakes she made. Sierra didn’t. In fact, Veronica was the one who fessed up to Jamey about her and Sierra’s catfishing scheme; not Sierra. Sierra never apologized for all the wrong and hurt she caused to others. The song she wrote wasn’t an apology. It was her making excuses for her actions. ‘If I were a rose, maybe you’d pick me. I’m a sunflower waiting for you.’

These two main differences between the two made Veronica so likeable, and Sierra so unlikeable. Storytelling has the responsibility to teach its audience the difference between right and wrong. If they’re going to have a main character mess up as Sierra did, the consequences need to be had. If the main character does something wrong and they realize the extent at which their actions hurt the people they claim to love and care about and that they need to apologize and change their behaviour to better themselves, then the storytellers had done their job. That’s where ‘Sierra Burgess Is A Loser’ missed its mark. Sierra had absolutely no consequences to her wrongdoings. NONE. It almost seemed like they’d done that with Veronica. That’s why she deserved to be the main protagonist.

It’s not like movies such as this weren’t ever made. ‘My Best Friend’s Wedding’, the 1997 romantic comedy movie starring Julia Roberts, Cameron Diaz and Dermot Mulroney, is the perfect example. The main protagonist Julianne Potter, played by Roberts, is in love with her best friend, Michael O’Neal, played by Mulroney, who is getting married to Kimberly “Kimmy” Wallace, played by Diaz. Throughout the entire movie, Julianne does everything she can to sabotage the wedding. In the end, Julianne confesses her feelings to Michael, but he rejects her and still gets married to Kimmy. In fact, Michael gets married to Kimmy only after Julianne goes to her herself assuring her that Michael truly loves her; and she takes accountability for her actions and apologizes. We also see Julianne make as speech at the wedding as Kimmy’s maid of honor. And finally, Julianne and Michael share their goodbyes before moving on.

I think the movie was made perfectly, Julianne is a protagonist that we’re NOT meant to root for, and yet, she does get her ‘happily ever after.’ Sometimes, one’s ’happily ever after’ isn’t about getting the guy. Sometimes, it’s about learning and growing as a person, and realizing that what you think is meant for you is actually meant for someone else. And it worked. It absolutely worked. It’s been 27 years since the film was released, and it’s considered to be the best romantic comedy of all time…to this very day. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three out of four stars and said, ‘One of the pleasures of Ronald Bass’ screenplay is the way it subverts the usual comic formulas that would fuel a plot like this.’

‘Sierra Burgess Is A Loser’ could’ve actually been a great movie. The idea for it was good, but the implementation was absolutely awful. With that being said, I hope to see a continuation to the story; not of Sierra’s story, but that of Veronica’s.