Girl Fight (film)
| Girl Fight | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Written by | Benita Garvin |
| Directed by | Stephen Gyllenhaal |
| Starring | Anne Heche James Tupper Jodelle Ferland |
| Country of origin | United States Canada |
| Original language | English |
| Production | |
| Producer | Harvey Kahn |
| Running time | 90 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Release | October 3, 2011 |
Girl Fight is a television film that premiered on Lifetime on October 3, 2011. Inspired by true events,[1] the film revolves around a 16-year-old girl who tries to fit in with a popular group of girls, leading to a brutal beating upon joining the clique.
Plot
 | This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. (July 2013) |
Haley Macklin (Jodelle Ferland) is an academically advanced high school student. She sees herself as an outsider because she has skipped a grade. Her intelligence and well articulated contributions to class discussions cause her classmates to become jealous. Frustrated that she is left out from a popular group of girls, she posts negative comments about them on a social networking website. Unexpectedly, she befriends Alexa Simons (Tess Atkins), a popular girl in school who is head over heels for Derek (Rady Panov). Haley offers to help Alexa with her schoolwork. Haley soon breaks the social barrier between her and the popular girls and is accepted by most of them. The girls with whom she does not make a connection are slightly suspicious of her. Haley's behavior changes drastically. She disobeys her parents and is rude to her sister. Her mother, Melissa (Anne Heche) endeavors to make allowances for Haley's attitude and is more lenient than her father, Ray (James Tupper).
One day, the popular girls discover the harsh comments that Haley posted online and they feel betrayed. The girls decide to physically attack Haley, while videotaping it. They also plan to post the images online. Clueless about this revenge plot, Haley is invited over to Alexa's house. The girls are waiting by the door and once Haley steps inside, the girls taunt her, calling her names and savagely beat her, until she becomes unconscious, suffering a concussion, a ruptured eardrum, and a damaged left eye in the process. The entire beating, which was recorded on video, lasted one hour (condensed in the film). After the brutal attack, Haley wakes up bruised, bloody, confused, and helpless in front of the girls who continue to taunt her. They then abandon her in a parking lot with a cell phone. However, within a few seconds after the girls flee, good Samaritans come to Haley's aid. When Melissa and Ray discover what the girls had done to Haley, Melissa confronts Alexa and her two friends that took part in the beating, Kristin and Taylor. Knowing that she has not seen the footage on Taylor's phone yet, the girls manage to deter her from seeing it by making false statement and refusing to confess about it. When Alexa's grandmother, Marylou (Linda Darlow) attempts to retrieve Taylor's phone to see the footage herself, Kristin and Taylor hastily escape the house via Alexa's open sliding door. Marylou then tries to get Taylor's phone number from Alexa's contacts list, but is left shocked and disappointed when she sees a video frame of Haley's bloodied and bruised face on Alexa's computer screen.
Haley's parents receive the footage of the brutal beating from Marylou. It was stored on a USB flash drive. After viewing it, Melissa and Ray decide to take serious action against the girls, by alerting authorities. Realizing Marylou had given Haley's parents the footage, Alexa, infuriated with what she did and expressing disdain toward Haley and her family, escapes and goes to Kristin's house. However, her house is traced by police, who arrive and arrest them, along with Taylor and the two other girls that took part in the beating, Becca and Lauren, and are charged with kidnapping and battery. They are released on bail and Alexa is being called the ringleader of the beating because she was the one who conspired it. At high school, students cheer the girls for what they did. However, Becca, disturbed after watching the video herself, regrets what she did and turns her back against the girls. While the kids at school think the girls are "cool", people from around the country have seen the video, also causing nationwide public outrage.
While using a restroom, Haley is confronted and harassed by a now livid Alexa. When Melissa breaks up the feud, she admits that she should have taken the part in beating her daughter. Melissa herself is then confronted by Marylou, claiming that Alexa and her friends are facing a life sentence. Haley thinks that those punishments should be reduced. Although her mother agrees to recommend this, they disagree on the plea bargain the girls' lawyers had arranged, knowing that lighter sentences are the appropriate punishment for the girls. The girls responsible for the attack are convicted and receive the following punishments: Alexa receives three years probation, 100 hours of community service, and an order to pay Haley and her family $1,700 in restitution, Kristin receives 15 days imprisonment and is placed on three years probation, Becca, Taylor, and Lauren each get one year probation, with Lauren also being ordered to pay Haley and her family $2,000 in restitution and are restricted from any social sites for the full term of their probation as an above sentence. The film ends with Haley and Melissa, now feeling more relaxed with the girls' convictions, walking out of the courthouse and in front of the press who are about to interview them.
The film was inspired by a 2008 beating in Florida; a video of some of the beating, released by Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, was used heavily by the news media and the story caused nationwide public outrage.[2][3] Additionally, Anne Heche and James Tupper who play Haley's parents, are a couple in real-life.
Cast
- Jodelle Ferland as Haley Macklin
- Anne Heche as Melissa Macklin
- James Tupper as Ray Macklin
- Tess Atkins as Alexa Simons
- Keely Purvis as Kristin Hempton
- Genevieve Buechner as Lauren Kramer
- Taylor Hui as Taylor
- Chanelle Peloso as Dana
- Caley Dimmock as Becca Lawrence
- Linda Darlow as Marylou Simons
- Lanette Ware as DA Jane Dennett
- Rady Panov as Derek
References
- ^ "Lifetime's Girl Fight Based on True Story of Victoria Lindsay". InsideEdition.com. Retrieved May 13, 2012.
- ^ "Local Teen Beating Inspires Movie".
- ^ "Videotaped beating sparks national outrage".