Most Likely to Murder

Most Likely to Murder disappoints on several levels. The major craft flaw--plot holes big enough to drive an SUV through--is a symptom of the basic content flaw. Which is: this film sends the message that bullies know what they're doing, and that you should stay out of their quarrels with their targets, because those quarrels are worse than none of your business. In fact, here the bullies are looking out for the safety of the community!

SPOILER ALERT: this review will necessarily spoil the Big Reveal at the end, the one thing that makes sense of the anti-heroine's behavior. Anyone wishing to view the film first should read no further than this line.

If you've gotten this far, you know the overview. Casey Paulson was at the top of a girl's "Junior High" game. (That's odd; haven't they been calling it "Middle School" and expanding it from Grades 7-8 to 5-8 for the last twenty years or longer? But I digress.) Then, early in high school, she has it all: she's even a cheerleader, the top of the girls' social order in any school. Then, as we are supposed to believe, tragedy strikes. Fire breaks out in her home, kills her father, and burns her hair down to her scalp.

Fast-forward to the present day. She's coming back to school, wearing a wig. But two cheerleaders take her wig off and throw it in the toilet, as spiteful revenge for some seemingly petty slight that predated the fire. And when she shows up for class, wearing a wig that still smells a little rank, they start joking about that in class. Then at recess the cheer captain lays down the law on the bullies: stop, or you're off the squad. Another cheerleader decides to befriend Casey and bring her out of her shell.

That's not good enough for the bullies. They steal Casey's cellphone, lock it up in one of their lockers, and deliver an ultimatum: stay away from the girl who wanted to be her friend. So she does two things, one of which you can approve, the other, not so much. The good thing is that she...