Film Review: How to Build a Girl (2019)

Caitlin Moran is a somewhat controversial media figure and is considered a leading voice in (white) feminism via her Times columns and her Twitter feed. She has written a book and a TV show (Raised by Wolves), which are both semi-autobiographical, based on her upbringing in Wolverhampton as the eldest child of eight. The book – How to Build a Girl – has now been turned into a film with the somewhat surprising casting choice of the American Beanie Feldstein, playing Johanna (the character based on Moran).

Director, Coky Giedroyc, has worked on television shows such as Sherlock, The Hour (highly recommended), Penny Dreadful and Harlots. She (and Moran) appear to have pulled in some industry favours here, because the film is packed full of well-known British actors and singers, mostly in cameo roles.

Johanna is struggling with life as an extremely bookish teenager in the early 90s. Packed into a full-to-bursting home with her brother Krissi (Laurie Kynaston), her aging rocker Dad (Paddy Considine) and depressed Mum (Sarah Solemani), who has twin babies consuming her every waking (and sleeping) moment. Johanna is determined to be a writer, and on the advice of her brother, submits some writing to DNME (which, confusingly is standing in for British movie magazine Melody Maker, not the NME).

Related Review: Booksmart (2019)

She somehow blags her way into covering gigs for them (despite being only 16), invents an alter-ego named Dolly Wild and goes through a journey of reinvention that hits similar plot-points to Almost Famous. She realizes that in order to keep her job, she must become more cuttingly critical of the bands, starts to alienate her newfound friends, as well as her family, and hits rock bottom.

One of the most inventive aspects of How to Build a Girl is Johanna’s rich fantasy life. She has covered her walls in pictures of her muses, who come to life and offer her advice. There is Elizabeth Taylor (Lily Allen), Freud (Michael Sheen), Maria Von Trapp (Gemma Arterton), the Brontes (played by Sue Perkins and Coky Giedroyc’s sister Mel), Jo March (Sharon Horgan) and Sylvia Plath (Lucy Punch).

Another aspect that adds interest is Johanna’s costumes, once she adopts the persona of Dolly Wild, which are designed to make her look like a circus ringmaster by Stephanie Collie. There is also a paisley tapestry backpack that transported me directly back to the 90s, like a full body-shock. Getting period details such as this accurate are perhaps even more important when it’s the recent past and people can still clearly remember them. 

Perhaps the best scenes are between Johanna and John Kite (Alfie Allen), a popstar who Johanna befriends/falls for. He opens up to her about his past and makes himself quite emotionally vulnerable, only for her to betray this trust. The entire success or failure of How to Build a Girl really rests on Beanie Feldstein’s young shoulders and not least, whether she can pull off a convincing Wolverhampton accent. Fortunately (coming from someone who grew up in The Midlands), her accent is excellent, and while the Wolverhampton occasionally slips into a more generic (and posher) RP English accent, there is never any hint of American in there.

Related Review: Lady Bird (2017)

Her performance is as wonderful as we’ve come to expect from work such as Lady Bird and Booksmart, she has fearless quality and openness which is very endearing. Considine, Solemani and Kynaston are also great as Johanna’s family.

Johanna is upset that her Mum is too busy to pay her any attention anymore, but no one in the family seem particularly concerned about the fact her Mum has postnatal depression and desperately needs help. Johanna takes pride in being able to help her family out financially, but then resents them for trying to keep her in school and ‘contained.’ 

While How to Build a Girl follows many familiar plot beats, it is refreshing to see a girl get to be the one who is flawed, selfish, irresponsible and getting to have a wild time on tour with rock stars etc. Things go somewhat off-the-rails in the final act – not just for Johanna, but in terms of how much the writing stretches credibility to lead to convenient conclusions. Up until this point, it is a mostly enjoyable ride, if you don’t take it too seriously or think about it too deeply.

While Moran’s writing is uneven, Giedroyc’s directing is more impressive, and it will be interesting to see if she continues working in film or goes back to TV. Feldstein is also an exciting actor to watch, and after working with Greta Gerwig, Olivia Wilde and now Coky Giedroyc, I cannot wait to see what the next collaboration will be for her. You could certainly do worse than to wile away a couple of hours in the early 90s music scene, with Johanna Morrigan as your guide.