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Barely Lethal

PG-13 Released May 29, 2015 1h 36m Action Comedy List
26% Tomatometer 35 Reviews 38% Popcornmeter 2,500+ Ratings
Seeking a normal adolescence, a special-operations agent (Hailee Steinfeld) fakes her own death and enrolls in high school as an exchange student.
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Barely Lethal

Barely Lethal

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Critics Consensus

Just like its underserved protagonist, Barely Lethal is in disguise -- it wants you to think it's smarter than it is but it fails by falling prey to all the clichés it mocks.

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Critics Reviews

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Mark Kermode Observer (UK) From the grisly punning title to the low-rent action sequences, this really is less fun than double maths. Rated: 2/5 Aug 30, 2015 Full Review Geoffrey Macnab Independent (UK) [A] bubbly but very lightweight high-school comedy. Rated: 2/5 Aug 28, 2015 Full Review Kim Newman Empire Magazine Hardly groundbreaking but this high-school actioner ghosts by on its charm and sense of fun. Rated: 3/5 Aug 27, 2015 Full Review Stephen O'Nion One Room With A View Attempts to subvert some of the standard tropes never really come off and it's light on laughs... Rated: 2/5 May 4, 2019 Full Review David Sugarman CineVue The great set-up could, and really should, have delivered a better movie than it did, but while it's unlikely to be remembered alongside the films it delights in name-checking, there's enjoyment to be had. Rated: 3/5 Apr 6, 2019 Full Review Lisa Twang The New Paper (Singapore) It is not nearly as intelligent as Mean Girls, but the ass-kicking is still fun to watch. Rated: 3/5 Sep 20, 2017 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Dominic R Great movie, lots of laughs. Not sure what everyone was expecting with the bad comments but it was exactly the movie it should have been! Rated 5 out of 5 stars 10/09/24 Full Review Yash B "Barely Lethal" attempts to blend a spy movie with a high school comedy and it excels at neither. The movie has a few funny situations and moments, but it is mostly a flat one that is worse than a lot of the movies it is making fun of. I felt like the movie actually had a decent concept and premise but fails to do anything new or innovative with it. I think the actors in the movie are capable of much better than what they had to work with here so a bad story isn't really their fault. Overall, the movie is forgettable and completely skippable because there are plenty of fish-out-of-water high school comedies out there that are far more entertaining. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 04/16/23 Full Review steve d It is fun enough but not especially original. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review Audience Member This nearly unrecognizable A24 release actually had a pretty fun concept and a competent lead in Hailee Steinfeld but unfortunately leaned way too hard into the teen movie cliches. I did laugh some but this could have been way more up my alley with an R rating and far less of the high school romantic drama. 4.5/10 Samuel L. Jackson Binge: Jackson had a well tailored role here running a top secret government program aiming to turn children into spies and only wish we could have seen more of him at work. *SLJ January #20 Rated 2 out of 5 stars 01/20/23 Full Review Audience Member This movie is dumb as hell but it has Hailee Steinfeld, Sophie Turner, and a Steve-O cameo. I had goofy fun with it. Sue me. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/14/23 Full Review Audience Member Es divertida, pero no es una película que volvería a ver, me reí pero se me hizo innecesaria pero ame las actuaciones Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/27/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Barely Lethal

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Cast & Crew

Masterminds 34% 35% Masterminds TRAILER for Masterminds Hot Pursuit 8% 35% Hot Pursuit TRAILER for Hot Pursuit So Undercover 6% 49% So Undercover One for the Money 2% 42% One for the Money Code Name: The Cleaner 4% 38% Code Name: The Cleaner Discover more movies and TV shows. View More

Movie Info

Synopsis Seeking a normal adolescence, a special-operations agent (Hailee Steinfeld) fakes her own death and enrolls in high school as an exchange student.
Director
Kyle Newman
Producer
Brett Ratner, John Cheng, Sukee Chew, Vanessa Coifman, Ted Hartley
Screenwriter
John D'Arco
Distributor
A24
Production Co
RKO Pictures, Ratpac Entertainment
Rating
PG-13 (Language|Drug References|Sexual Material|Some Action Violence|Teen Drinking)
Genre
Action, Comedy
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
May 29, 2015, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Aug 10, 2016
Runtime
1h 36m
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