Starring: Sarah Bolger, Lily Cole, Sarah Gadon, and Scott Speedman
The Moth Diaries is only 82 minutes in duration. However, those 82 minutes felt like an eternity when I watched this uninteresting tale. If only I had a time machine, I would go back and tell the SoberFilmCritic that I was not available to waste my time on this crap. But we don’t have time for should have, could have, would have on STMR and every movie can’t be a gem. So let’s press on!
The Moth Diaries follows Rebecca (Sarah Bolger) a young teen headed back to an all-girl boarding school. Rebecca is still recovering from her father’s tragic suicide. The one thing that has helped her through the difficult time is all of her friends at school, especially her best friend Lucie (Sarah Gadon). Rebecca is delighted to see all of her best girlfriends and reconnect with Lucie at the start of the school year. However, her joy is short-lived as there is a new student who has moved in across the hall Ernessa (Lily Cole).
Ernessa is oddly dark, a bit of a recluse, never eats and lurks around at night. She immediately sets her sights on seducing Lucie. Rebecca is jealous because she is in love with Lucie. Her jealousy soon turns to suspicion—the closer Lucie becomes to Ernessa, the more she withdraws from Rebecca and everyone else. In addition, people start dropping like flies now that Ernessa is on the scene. Rebecca becomes obsessed with Ernessa and proving that she is a destructive force and a killer.
While the plot may sound intriguing, it is not well-executed. The lack of character development, bad writing, and poor execution of scenes that are supposed to be suspenseful turn this film into a real snoozer. I was more interested in trying to remember where I had seen Sarah Bolger before than I was in the actual film. (I finally gave up and googled it—she was King Henry’s daughter on The Tudors). At the end of the day, I just didn’t find the characters compelling and the ending was just plain silly. I honestly cannot think of one thing that I enjoyed in the film, so I will just say drink a tank of whiskey if you want to try to watch this one.
