EssenceStory Well Deserved Praise

Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Freeman This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Kinley This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Hari Kansal The film is flawed from the start. Lily is extremely intelligent but doesn't grasp the fact that her boyfriend didn't leave her for Miss India America because of the title, he is shown from the opening scene to not care about accomplishments or titles. This fact on its own renders the rest of the film to be superfluous. Despite this, I stayed thinking that Lily will explore the depths of her humanity via the constant setups that indicated a strong likelihood of her mother playing a huge role in helping Lily understand the world, but this miss(ed) the mark too. Although the film does eventually draw on her mother, it does so in a rushed and superficial way. On top of all these disappointments, many of the secondary actors/actresses were atrocious (due in small part to the script).

mkenyon1978 This movie is about a smart and ambitious girl, Lily Prasad, who loses her longtime high school sweetheart to Miss India Nationals and misguidedly decides to enter this year's pageant, with her heart set on winning. I was expecting this to be Legally Blonde meets Election meets Miss Congeniality with an Indian lead. While it does have elements of all these movies, it doesn't inspire you at all, nor is it enjoyable, mainly because Lily is unlikable and obnoxious and her "pivotal" moment, that moment where she sees the error of her ways, is completely forced.

Maja T First time I take the time to write a review- but god was this a lousy movie. This is the first time in my life that I disliked a main character so much, Lily was made so unlikable in this movie that it made it almost impossible to watch. I kept watching only to see it get better but only got worse.The whole moral of the story is also a bit degrading- there you have this girl that has it all and a plan shes been striving to all her life- but her boyfriend leaves her because shes over controlling and she leaves everything just so she can gain his interest back. Also to note that the dresses/ outfits were dated and the makeup was far bellow average. It seems like a very low budget movie, I am surprised it ever made to Netflix. Save yourself the two hours and watch something else, anything... Watch CP24 or the weather network, you'll be more entertained than with this movie. :( *Also- IMDb if I knew you have this many unnecessary guidelines for a simple review, I would have never bothered to write this- really 10 lines minimum are you serious? It's a movie review site not the Oscars.

MartinHafer Lily (Tiya Sircar) is a very smart, driven young lady. She succeeds at pretty much everything she has tried--winning the national spelling bee, graduating at the top of her class and having a seemingly perfect life ahead of her. Despite this, she has a new plan...to win the Miss India USA pageant...even though she hates pageants and thinks they are stupid. So why would she do this? Because her long-time boyfriend was caught with a lady who won this competition...and she wants to prove she is just as good, or better, than these other young ladies. Plus, she just doesn't like losing to anyone!There is one big problem with this film...Lily is a self-absorbed and incredibly selfish person. She only thinks of herself and is impossible to like...and this seriously impacts the viewing experience. After all, you aren't pulling for her to win...and you actually want her to lose badly! In contrast, when I watched a far better beauty pageant comedy, "Drop Dead Gorgeous", I was pulling for sweet Amber Atkinson to win...and it felt terrible when she didn't. So, despite this, is the film worth seeing? Not for me. When Lily comes up with some epiphany, it's just too late and rather unconvincing. Overall, an interesting miss...but a miss nonetheless. It's a shame, as Tiya was good in the lead--her acting was really nice.