"Struck by Lighning" - Film Review

For some strange reason Glee star Chris Colfer decided to write a movie. And for some other odd reason he also ended up starring as the lead in that movie. The result was Struck by Lightning.

The film is smug, aimless, and thinks it’s a whole lot smarter than it actually is. This is a total shame because it has an undeservedly great cast, including Rebel Wilson, Christina Hendricks, Sarah Hyland, Alison Kinsey, Ashley Richards, and Allison Janney.

Colfer attempts to be his usual charming, mawkish self, but fails to create sympathy for the unredeemable and highly unlikable protagonist Carson Phillips. Phillips blackmails other students to get writings for a literary journal which he intends to send to Northwestern to impress them. The whole scheme is selfish and the film’s best attempts to soften Phillips and his conniving never stop either from being totally mean-spirited, and honestly just utterly dickish.  

The teen movie is a tricky and specific movie that when handled poorly is an unmitigated disaster. But when it’s handled appropriately it can lead to wonderful movies, even recent ones such as Easy A. Now “unmitigated disaster” might be an overstatement in describing Struck By Lighting, but merely watchable is not high praise for a film.  

And though the film has a surprising number of amusing one liners delivered by a great, but under-serviced cast, the story is too thin and underdeveloped to motivate an earnest connection to the narrative. 

Grade: C+