"Based on true story"?

So, just to be clear, the actual event this was based off of was a discussion with her daughter.

never got a feel of what this was supposed to be: a satire of wealthy connecticut wasps and their children? a send-up of self help culture? a portrait of cyberbullying and the predatory nature of elite pre-teen girls? a straight horror movie spoof or a post modern take on horror a la the scream movies? a commentary on the sad state of contemporary art? at least the art that's shown in this movie...the film is missing the thing that's hardest for a lot of first time directors to pull off-a consistent tone. there were parts of the movie that were certainly played for laughs (chloe sevigny's role) but those parts never meshed with the often self serious revelations about the young girls, not to mention timothy hutton's character, or the super stylized horror movie aspects.

one thing i found especially disturbing was the portrayal of the overweight girl-georgie. she continues to be referred to as fat, disgusting, etc pretty much throughout the entire movie. often times while stuffing cupcakes down her throat. who benefits from portraying an extremely young person in such a way? what does that kind of humiliation do for the psyche of a young actress? and isn't this the kind of bullying what the movie is trying (ineptly so) to show in a negative light? honestly, i found it reprehensible on the director's part to include that kind of dialogue directed at someone so young. to make matters worse the character herself or indeed, any other character ever defends or comes to her aid. would it have been so hard for georgie to say something along the lines of, "i can always lose weight, but you'll be *beep* forever."? instead she gets lumped in with the five other girls, united in their shallow hatefulness, and ultimately impossible to care about.