Luckiest Girl Alive

2022 - 10 - 7

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Image courtesy of "The Guardian"

Luckiest Girl Alive review – Mila Kunis runs out of luck in flat Netflix ... (The Guardian)

A hollow adaptation of Jessica Knoll's 2015 novel centers on a woman whose perfect life is corroded by past trauma.

Aurelia is impressive as a teenager reeling from shame and bristling at pressure to report from her English teacher (Scoot McNairy) and bullied friends Arthur (Thomas Barbusca) and Ben (David Webster). The young TiffAni (Chiara Aurelia) is a nondescript teen: interested in English, embarrassed by her gauche, middle-class mother (Connie Britton), down to party. The cracks appear from the start – shopping with Luke for wedding registry knives, Ani imagines them dripping in blood – and widen when a documentarian approaches her to tell her side of a tragic story. [Where the Crawdads Sing](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/jul/12/where-the-crawdads-sing-review-daisy-edgar-jones), another adaptation of a literary smash about a jagged female protagonist tapped by Reese Witherspoon. Many of the movies’ problems are book problems, made worse, in the case of Luckiest Girl Alive, by decisions to sand down the novel’s more uncomfortable psychology and graft the ending on to the #MeToo movement. It’s of the time for a mid-2010s literary hit, but also seems to anticipate the 2022

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Image courtesy of "The A.V. Club"

In Luckiest Girl Alive, a young woman's present forces her to revisit ... (The A.V. Club)

Despite the undeniable power of Jessica Knoll's semi-autobiographical story, its translation to film needs more cinematic structure.

In a weird quirk of timing, this marks the second movie this week featuring Scoot McNairy as a kindly teacher, the other being Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile. When a documentary filmmaker seeks out her side of the story, baiting her with the indication that Dean is going to speak on the record as well, the second timeline begins to unfold. Aurelia, who previously played a younger Carla Gugino in Gerald’s Game, is the real star here, acting out the inner trauma Ani has tried to forget. Rewinding the clock to her high school years, shortly before the massacre, younger Tifani’s story sets up a mystery: Who among these teens is the shooter, and is Tifani in any way also culpable? The structure of those events, however, remains better suited to a novel than a movie, as two timelines play out simultaneously in a voiceover-heavy story mostly told from inside the protagonist’s head. “I’m not getting married until we have a woman for president,” says Ani’s best friend in response to the latter’s impending nuptials to a perfect, old-money inheriting lacrosse champion named Luke (Finn Wittrock).

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Image courtesy of "CNN"

'Luckiest Girl Alive' stars Mila Kunis in a messy adaptation of Jessica ... (CNN)

Kunis plays Ani FaNelli, a have-it-all magazine journalist close to landing her dream job at the New York Times and marrying her wealthy boyfriend Luke (Finn ...

But “Luckiest Girl Alive” falls short of its promise, a reminder that, however ironic the title is intended to be, fortune tends to favor the bold. As constructed, unfortunately, in an adaptation of the book written by its author, Jessica Knoll, and directed by Mike Barker, “Luckiest Girl Alive” feels as if it’s juggling too many plates – joining the story in progress and laboring to connect the mass shooting to Ani’s story in a way that muddles the mystery. [Mila Kunis](https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/24/world/mila-kunis-stand-with-ukraine-cnnheroes/index.html) produces and stars in this #MeToo-tinged story, which awkwardly incorporates a mass school shooting as well as gender and class politics into what becomes an ungainly mix of hot-button issues in one dramatic package.

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Image courtesy of "Roger Ebert"

Luckiest Girl Alive movie review (2022) | Roger Ebert (Roger Ebert)

Luckiest Girl Alive not only dramatizes a school shooting in poor taste, it has the gall to use one as the backdrop while it also exploits rape trauma in ...

Ordinarily this moment in a film would feel triumphant, but it’s here you realize “Luckiest Girl Alive” has exploited both school shootings and rape trauma for a self-actualization narrative that ultimately ends with Ani finding value not in the release of her repressed emotions through this writing, but in the shallow achievement of viral fame. Through flashbacks and Ani’s narration (which is haphazardly deployed throughout as her cynical inner thoughts, an interview for a documentary, and the copy for a piece she writes during the film’s denouement), we learn that one of the survivors, now a gun reform activist, claims that Ani was in on the shooting—but also that this same survivor was one of three classmates who gang-raped Ani at a school dance after party just weeks before the shooting. Ani’s wedding dress is from Saks 5th Avenue (the one on 5th Avenue!), but she makes it clear to her rich friends that her mother shops at T.J. [Chiara Aurelia](/cast-and-crew/chiara-aurelia)), is a survivor of the “deadliest private school shooting in U.S. [Mike Barker](/cast-and-crew/mike-barker)’s brutal blocking of the rape sequence, Aurelia does a fine job in showing Ani’s pain and resistance during, confusion immediately after, and later hesitation to report due to internalized shame. She’s written “1,500 stories about how to give a blow job” but all she really wants is a job at the New York Times Magazine so she can be “someone people can respect.” Ani is engaged to an old money scion named Luke ( [Finn Wittrock](/cast-and-crew/finn-wittrock), given nothing to do), who is more of a box to check towards Ani’s goal of unquestionable social legitimacy than anything else.

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Image courtesy of "solosophie"

Luckiest Girl Alive Filming Locations | solosophie (solosophie)

Based on the eponymous novel by Jessica Knoll, here's your guide to the top Luckiest Girl Alive Filming Locations in New York and Toronto.

Trafalgar Castle School in Whitby was used to stand in for the exterior of Brentley School. Filming took place at several spots on the island, including North Ferry Terminal and a private property in Greenport Village. 5th Avenue was also the first exterior scene to be shown in the movie, where Ani and her Fiancé take a stroll down the street after picking out the gifts for their wedding registry. Bay Street gives a New York City vibe and is one of the many outdoor locations that is used to represent Manhattan in the movie. Ani also works in midtown Manhattan as this is where the magazine who she works for’s office is based. In the background, you can see a Bryant Park News Stand before they descend into the subway system.

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Image courtesy of "Radio Times"

Luckiest Girl Alive Soundtrack: Every Song in the hit Netflix film (Radio Times)

Luckiest Girl Alive full tracklist from the Netflix movie starring Mila Kunis, including brand new song I Know Where I've Been by Elle King and Linda Perry.

For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to the [Radio Times podcast](https://www.radiotimes.com/podcasts/) with Jane Garvey. [Sign up for Netflix from £6.99 a month](https://www.netflix.com/gb/). The song playing during Luckiest Girl Alive's closing credits is I Know Where I've Been, a brand new song written especially for the movie. - “Pump Up the Volume” by M/A/R/R/S - “Feel So Good” by Mase - “Paradiso” by Charlotte Gainsbourg - “Put It in Your Mouth” by Akinyele feat. - “Awake” by Generationals You can see the full tracklist below: - “I Think I’m Paranoid” by Garbage - “Sunny” by Blake Swann - “Bossa Nova U.S.A.” by Dave Brubeck Quartet

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Image courtesy of "The Envoy Web"

Luckiest Girl Alive ending explained: Does Ani confront her past? (The Envoy Web)

'Luckiest Girl Alive' follows Ani Fanelli, who successfully puts on the facade of living an ideal life, but an incident from the past threatens to unravel.

Ani shows Luke the op-ed and he is furious about the level of detail she went into. He claimed that he refused to be Ani’s boyfriend, which is why she planned the shooting with Arthur and Ben. She struts away with the confidence that she can now speak her mind freely. She does want to tell her story, but not with the documentary. Dean and Peyton bullied Ben earlier and he didn’t take action, and he claims she is doing the same. The survivors decided to escape and TifAni hid a knife with her. Due to the events of the past resurfacing, Ani and Luke’s relationship is deteriorating as well. She was next to Dean when the bomb first blew up. But she relents upon realising that they would need to contact her mother before approaching the police. She later reaches the store in a distressed state and is found by Mr. Back in the past, Ani is raped thrice during the party at Dean’s house; first by Peyton, then by Liam and finally by Dean. Aaron Wickersham, an independent filmmaker, returns to take her interview for a documentary he is making on a school shooting in which many believe Ani was involved.

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Image courtesy of "StyleCaster"

Chiara Aurelia Was Pranked Into Thinking She Didn't Get Her Part in ... (StyleCaster)

Netflix's "Luckiest Girl Alive" stars Mila Kunis as Ani and Chiara Aurelia as her younger self, an adaptation of the book by Jessica Knoll.

A lot of women and people everywhere are dealing with kind of some of the issues and topics that we touched on in the movie. Part of the reason I wanted to work on this project is that every single person involved is truly incredible and amazing at what they do. Please note that if you purchase something by clicking on a link within this story, we may receive a small commission from the sale. For the first and second days, we worked through the shooting sequence and then we moved on to working on the sexual assault scenes on the third and fourth days. They spent a lot of time having all the kids connect as well and get to know one another. I met with Mike Barker, who’s the director and I was slowly falling in love with the project. A couple of days later, I get a call from my agent and my manager and they’re like, “Hey, so turns out they’re actually canceling your audition.” I said, “What? So anyway, I auditioned, I read the script and I loved it. “I think that I probably belonged in a generation that didn’t have social media.” In her new film, she gets to be. [Netflix](https://stylecaster.com/how-to-change-netflix-region/)’s Luckiest Girl Alive, which is based on the [2015 bestselling book](https://www.amazon.com/Luckiest-Girl-Alive-Jessica-Knoll-ebook/dp/B00UBL1EEE/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?asc_source=web&asc_campaign=web&asc_refurl=https%3A%2F%2Fstylecaster.com%2Fluckiest-girl-alive%2F#038;tag=stylecaster0d-20) of the same name by Jessica Knoll. As an up-and-coming actor with 22 credits already to her name, including Cruel Summer and Tell Me Your Secrets, Aurelia laments the pressure she feels to “have an “I love this song!” she exclaims on the set of her photoshoot with StyleCaster in late September.

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Image courtesy of "Digital Mafia Talkies"

'Luckiest Girl Alive' Ending, Explained: What Was Ani Hiding? What ... (Digital Mafia Talkies)

"Luckiest Girl Alive" revolves around the perfect life of Ani Fanelli, a writer at a popular women's magazine, engaged to a loving, preppie, financially.

The weight of the past was lifted from her shoulders, and she was free from the guilt that consumed her. Ani knew that she was on financial aid and that her life could go astray if she spoke about the gang rape. Her mother got her a lawyer when she was in school and silenced her before she could ever confide in her what had happened that night. She decided she wanted to be that woman in life, and she went to extremes to be her. Her mother had dedicated her life and money to her daughter’s education, and the fact that she attended a party and consumed alcohol, putting in line all that her mother had sacrificed, would make her furious. Instead, she even apologized to Liam, who was disappointed to learn that Ani was calling the events of the night gang rape. He took her to his residency and requested that she inform her mother, but she refused. When she saw Dean enter the room, she tried to make some excuse to leave, but he held her down and raped her. After Peyton left, Ani managed to stand up and tried to walk, but the boys would not let her escape. She had passed out, and when she came to her senses, she remembered her classmate Peyton making out with her. She was lying on the bathroom floor, unable to stop what was being done to her body. Everything around her was, in a way, pushing her to the edge.

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Image courtesy of "Economic Times"

Will Netflix release sequel of Luckiest Girl Alive? (Economic Times)

Since the release of Luckiest Girl Alive, Mila Kunis has received positive reviews. The book's author and the film's screenwriter is Jessica Knoll.

The views expressed here are that of the respective authors/ entities and do not represent the views of Economic Times (ET). The movie's ending will leave anyone with nagging questions, but do we really need to get a second part? Her acting is captivating, and the audience will love it. The movie will probably follow the same path. [Jessica Knoll](/topic/jessica-knoll)is the book's author and the movie's screenwriter. Will we see more of Mila Kunis in this one-of-a-kind role?

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Image courtesy of "Today.com"

The True Story Behind 'Luckiest Girl Alive,' According To Its Author (Today.com)

Luckiest Girl Alive is based in part on author Jessica Knoll's experiences with gang rape. She spoke to TODAY about adapting the story to the screen.

I thought I had to make it worse." I thought I had to make it worse," she said. "I was so scared," she said. "A lot of that had to do with the fact that I didn't want to make the actors feel uncomfortable," Knoll said. It becomes very, it becomes even harder for her to come forward," she said. Knoll answered in the affirmative. "I think I normalize what happened to me so that I can live with it. "She's now carrying the fact that they are 'good victim.' They've been gunned down. Author Knoll had to do the same. This was really bad." I was like, 'This is a job people need to do and I don't want to make it any more uncomfortable than it needs to be." But you can think of these aspects to her life as armor — or maybe a picnic blanket covering up a crater.

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Image courtesy of "Collider.com"

'Luckiest Girl Alive' Review: Mila Kunis Delivers a Career-Best ... (Collider.com)

If you finish watching Netflix's Luckiest Girl Alive without feeling as angry as Ani, you didn't watch it right.

It offers a career-best performance from Mila Kunis and isn’t afraid to throw salt in two giant wounds that can’t and won’t heal until we treat them with the seriousness they demand. Ultimately, the movie is a series of punches to the gut, most of which you never see coming. You never know what she’s going to do or say, and once the movie starts wrapping up and makes the core of her behavior clear, you fully understand and relate to the character. On the other hand, men get the benefit of the doubt, excuses are handed to them on a silver platter, and their entire existence is perceived as nuanced – and you definitely can’t pin them to a single mistake in life, because they are much more than that. Not only is this explicitly stated in a flashback by one of Ani’s teachers, but you constantly hear Ani's voiceover contradicting a lot of what she does and says onscreen. Based on a New York Times best-selling novel by author Jessica Knoll (who also pens the script), Luckiest Girl Alive tells the story of a magazine writer who’s aiming to make it to the top rankings of the writing world.

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Image courtesy of "TIME"

The Story Behind Netflix's <i>Luckiest Girl Alive</i> (TIME)

'Luckiest Girl Alive,' an adaptation of the 2015 book, is out now on Netflix. Its ending changed, but the powerful core of the story remains.

“I like that we looked at the year that followed me writing the book and writing my essay and the reaction to it and going on a TV show to talk about it.” While Knoll did change the ending of the film to make it more true to her own life, she was aided in doing so by Mila Kunis, who plays Ani with a haunted tenacity. The liberation of sharing her story encouraged Knoll to adapt the novel into a movie herself—not always typical for authors when their work is optioned. (Later, her mother also rejects this reality, making it nearly impossible for Ani to report the crimes.) Like Gone Girl, Luckiest Girl Alive dissects crime, gender, and class, [reassembling femininity](https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/a-guide-to-millennial-femininity/) through a contemporary lens. After the essay, readers flooded social media with messages of support and thanks to Knoll for coming forward. “What sets this novel apart is the author’s ability to snare the reader from page one, setting the tone for a completely enthralling read as the secrets are revealed.” She’s on edge, talking with an independent [documentary](https://time.com/6218901/queer-for-fear-horror-documentary/) filmmaker about a school shooting that unfolded here two decades ago—and the accusations surrounding it. “But when we reward women for showing their full range of humanity, warts and all, when we give their struggles weight, we allow for the possibility that their flaws and stories can endear, inspire and move us, just like those of men.” Written in the first person, the book itself is predominantly fictional. “You are not the daughter that I raised.” Its ending has changed, but the powerful core of the story persists.

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Image courtesy of "SheThePeople"

Here's What Twitter Has To Say About Mila Kunis' Film Luckiest Girl ... (SheThePeople)

The film adaptation of Jessica Knoll's bestselling novel Luckiest Girl Alive was released on October 7. The film centres on a woman who appears to “have it ...

[remarked](https://twitter.com/gendertraita/status/1578418747387150341), “I have GOT to start googling plot lines before I watch movies. Ani is so strong and I hate the mother sm” The film adaptation of Jessica Knoll‘s bestselling novel Luckiest Girl Alive was released on October 7.

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Image courtesy of "OTTplay"

Luckiest Girl Alive Review: An impressive Mila Kunis shoulders this ... (OTTplay)

Story: Ani Fanelli, a popular writer at The Women's Bible in New York, is engaged to a wealthy Luke Harrison. But a few weeks before her wedding, ...

Luckiest Girl Alive tries to dish out a portrait of a woman who tries to speak the truth, but lacks the twists and turns and only ends up as a tepid affair. And the constant oscillation between the past and the present succeeds in building the tension. But as the film progresses, the interest-o-meter gradually begins to fall. Right from the beginning, we get to see that Ani has been struggling to come out of her past when she describes her as a wind-up doll, who would say exactly what people wanted to hear from her. Years later, Ani (Mila Kunis) becomes a popular writer at The Women's Bible in New York and is engaged to a wealthy Luke Harrison the fourth (Finn Wittrock). Was Ani one of the victims in the incident or an accomplice in the dreadly incident?

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Image courtesy of "CNBCTV18"

Luckiest Girl Alive movie review: Mila Kunis expertly unravels the ... (CNBCTV18)

Based on Jessica Knoll's 2015 novel of the same name, Luckiest Girl Alive gives a refreshing voice to a lot of what usually goes unsaid—bullying, ...

Luckiest Girl Alive does too and it does more; it leaves you with a haunting William Faulkner quote: “The past is never dead. Based on Jessica Knoll’s 2015 novel of the same name which was also an NYT bestseller, Luckiest Girl Alive amplifies a lot of what usually remains unsaid—bullying, gun violence in American schools, sexual assault, rape, the stigma around victimhood, and the discrimination and humiliation that people from low-income backgrounds suffer. Watch out for the scene when the young Ani apologetically tells her boyfriend that she thinks she was raped. Mila Kunis makes Ani her own with care and nuance, making you push back, gasp for breath, and pass a sly smile when she does. She lives in New York City, is gearing up for a posh wedding, and is about to be offered the position of senior editor at the New York Times Magazine. Ani Fanelli is a 28-year-old senior editor at The Women’s Bible, a magazine for men’s pleasure.

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Image courtesy of "Vanguard"

What to know about Netflix's Luckiest Girl Alive (Vanguard)

Ani FaNelli (Mila Kunis) sits in front of stained glass windows in her former high school, the private and prestigious Bradley School in suburban Philadelphia.

“The knee-jerk reaction is to dismiss Ani as vain and vapid,” Knoll told the New York Times. “One woman’s carefully orchestrated, perfect life slowly cracks to reveal a dark underbelly in Knoll’s knockout debut novel,” read the review in Publishers Weekly. Luckiest Girl Alive, an adaptation of a 2015 book by the same name, releases on Netflix on Friday. “You are not the daughter that I raised.” “Luckiest girl alive right here.” “Not everyone has that.”

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