If you want better supporting cast performance
Choose The Invite. It scores 4.9 vs 2.5 for supporting cast performance, with a 4.5 overall score.
Girls Like Girls Movie Review
Bottom Line
Choose it for tender lead performances, dreamy mid-2000s atmosphere, and an emotionally sincere queer first-love story. Skip it if familiar plotting, underwritten side characters, or slow-burn pacing outweigh representation and mood.
Best for
Best for queer coming-of-age fans, Hayley Kiyoko followers, and viewers drawn to tender first-love stories, expressive performances, and detailed 2006 nostalgia.
Not for
Those seeking an unpredictable plot, fully developed supporting characters, brisk pacing, or a self-contained ending before the credits may find it frustrating.
Verdict
Girls Like Girls succeeds most as an intimate emotional experience rather than a tightly developed romance. Maya da Costa and Myra Molloy bring vulnerability, chemistry, and expressive detail to a familiar first-love story, while Hayley Kiyoko’s warm visual direction and carefully recreated 2006 setting give it a distinctive nostalgic glow. The film’s grief, self-worth, and queer self-acceptance themes often land powerfully. However, the screenplay leaves Sonya and the supporting characters underwritten, relies heavily on montage, and shifts between slow stretches and rushed developments. The abrupt cut to credits is also frustrating unless viewers stay for the more satisfying post-credits conclusion.
Feature Scorecards
Summary
42 reviewed features-
Very positive 4.5-5.016 (38%)
-
Positive 3.5-4.415 (36%)
-
Neutral 2.5-3.411 (26%)
Pros highlights
-
The story is emotionally sincere and easy to connect with, especially through Coley’s grief and self-worth arc. Its main limitation is a familiar, sometimes underdeveloped narrative framework.
-
The two leads carry the film with expressive, emotionally grounded work, and even harsher reactions usually separate their performances from the script’s weaknesses. Supporting performances draw more mixed responses.
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The film’s strongest moments make first love, grief, rejection, and self-acceptance feel immediate and raw. Even mixed reactions often acknowledge that the central emotions land.
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Hayley Kiyoko shows a strong eye for intimacy, mood, and emotional detail in her feature debut. Reactions split over whether the music-video sensibility fully sustains a feature-length narrative.
-
The leads’ chemistry is usually the film’s strongest pull, especially in quiet looks, touches, and private moments. A minority found the spark too muted to justify the relationship’s pain.
-
The final resolution is divisive because the main cut to black can feel abrupt, while the post-credits scene supplies the romantic closure many viewers wanted. Staying through the credits materially improves the payoff.
Cons highlights
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The dialogue ranges from natural, awkward teenage speech to lines described as stiff, cringey, or overly YA-styled. The quiet visual storytelling often works better than the spoken exchanges.
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The deliberate, slow-burn rhythm works for viewers who enjoy lingering mood and emotional detail. Others find the montages, dead air, and rushed late developments an uneven combination.
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Coley receives a clear grief-and-self-acceptance arc, while Sonya and several side characters often feel less fully explored. The imbalance leaves parts of the relationship emotionally convincing but narratively underwritten.
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The screenplay has genuine sensitivity and several strong emotional ideas, but it often relies on familiar structure, thin side characters, and abbreviated development.
-
The editing can effectively capture glances, memory, and emotional shifts, but rapid cuts and montage-heavy passages sometimes rush key developments or blur the passage of time.
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The supporting cast has warm individual moments, but thinly written roles limit their impact and leave the film heavily dependent on the leads.
Cast & Creators
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ColeyMaya da Costa is the film’s emotional anchor, conveying grief, longing, anger, and growing confidence with unusually expressive restraint. Her performance is the most consistently praised element.
-
SonyaMyra Molloy gives Sonya charm, volatility, and flashes of fear beneath her confident façade. Her work is widely admired, though some reactions blame the writing for leaving Sonya’s shifts insufficiently explained.
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DirectorHayley Kiyoko’s direction is strongest in intimate visual details, mood, and the quiet physical language of first love. Her feature debut shows clear sensitivity even where the screenplay and pacing divide opinion.
-
CurtisZach Braff’s subdued father performance is generally warm and touching, especially in the later grief scenes. A smaller group found him miscast or unable to supply the role’s full emotional range.
Compared With Category Average
Compared with other Movies, this product is above average in plot clarity, sexual content level, violence level, near average in directing quality, cinematography, below average in supporting cast performance, suspense, visual style.
Comparison summary
42 compared features-
Above average 0.4+ pts higher22 (52%)
-
Same as average within 0.3 pts16 (38%)
-
Below average 0.4+ pts lower4 (10%)
Largest category differences
| Attribute | This product | Category average | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| plot clarity | 5.0 | 2.8 | +2.2 |
| sexual content level | 5.0 | 2.8 | +2.2 |
| violence level | 5.0 | 3.1 | +1.9 |
| tonal consistency | 5.0 | 3.2 | +1.8 |
| age appropriateness | 4.5 | 2.7 | +1.8 |
| supporting cast performance | 2.5 | 4.1 | -1.6 |
| rewatch value | 5.0 | 3.5 | +1.5 |
| cultural representation | 4.8 | 3.5 | +1.3 |
Consider This Instead
If you want better editing quality
Choose Leviticus. It scores 4.8 vs 3.1 for editing quality, with a 4.2 overall score.
If you want better plot originality
Choose Bouchra. It scores 5.0 vs 2.8 for plot originality, with a 4.3 overall score.
If you want better dialogue quality
Choose The Weight. It scores 4.8 vs 2.6 for dialogue quality, with a 4.1 overall score.
Compared in Reviews
Products reviewers directly compared with this model, grouped into quick takeaways.
- Worse: overall coming-of-age execution The reviewer preferred this film when watching both queer coming-of-age stories together.
CODA
- Similar: melodramatic structure and pacing The charming opening and heavier back-half melodrama are compared with CODA.
Desert Hearts
- Similar: queer romance structure Its simple friendship-to-love structure is compared with a landmark queer romance.
FAQ
Is Girls Like Girls mainly a romance?
It is a queer first-love story, but Coley’s grief, self-worth, family wounds, and growing independence are just as central as whether the relationship succeeds.
Are the lead performances good?
Yes. Maya da Costa is the most consistently praised element, while Myra Molloy is widely admired for balancing Sonya’s confidence, volatility, and fear.
Is the movie faithful to the song, video, and novel?
It keeps the original visual and emotional DNA, includes many fan callbacks, and condenses or changes parts of the novel. The removal of the music video’s assault is generally viewed as an improvement.
Does the film feel slow?
The pacing is deliberately patient and mood-driven. Some find that approach intimate and absorbing, while others criticize dead air, repeated montages, and rushed transitions late in the story.
Should viewers stay through the credits?
Yes. The post-credits scene provides the more romantic and satisfying conclusion that several reactions felt was missing from the initial cut to black.
Who is the film most likely to connect with?
It is most likely to resonate with sapphic audiences, nostalgic millennials, younger queer viewers, and anyone who values emotional authenticity over plot novelty.
Sample Expert Reviews We Analyzed
These are a few of the reviews included in our analysis.
Video Reviews
YouTube - LadyJenevia
- Review score
- 4.3
YouTube - Forever Fangirls Reviews
- Review score
- 4.8
Article Reviews
bostonhassle.com
- Review score
- 4.6
chicagoreader.com
Girls Like Girls is nothing groundbreaking, but it’s a fun Pride watch from first-time director Hayley Kiyoko.
- Review score
- 3.6
awardsradar.com
While it contains impassioned performances, the aesthetic and thematic presentation of Girls Like Girls lacks in vision.
- Review score
- 2.9
awardswatch.com
Every queer person understands the pains of teenage yearning. In those formative years, who didn’t fall deep into the throes of an...
- Review score
- 3.4
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