Girls Like Girls is filmmaker Hayley Kiyoko’s truly moving look at first love and the passion and heartbreak that comes with it. This film is a story of a romance between two teenage girls that also manages to incorporate one of the best performances from Zach Braff (Scrubs) in years as one of their dads.
Girls Like Girls is a very special movie about the power of love and those inner scars our emotions help create.
Maya da Costa portrays Coley, a girl who hasn’t experienced life to the fullest yet. One day, she goes to meet up with a new acquaintance, Sonya (Myra Molloy), and one of Sonya’s male friends (Levon Hawke) throws her into some water, getting Coley wet and leaving her quite upset. Sonya offers her solace and the two quickly hit it off.
There’s nothing like first love and the passion that is ignited between Coley and Sonya makes for some of the most romantic sequences of the year. In this particular situation, it is Coley’s first love, not Sonya’s. That’s a recipe for disaster for Coley who isn’t ready for what her heart is going to experience when she gets the cold shoulder from Sonya.
Braff plays Coley’s dad, Curtis, who is trying to be there for Coley after the tragic loss of her mother. There are powerful scenes between Coley and Curtis as Braff’s dad character tries to be there for his daughter and assures her he’s there to help, not hurt.
What is so beautiful about the movie is how it captures Coley’s innocence and her desire to fit in and love another human being. When presented with the opportunity for true love, Coley seizes the moment. Sonya’s life is a bit complicated and when she abandons Coley, Coley sadly has to hook up with a convenience store worker to see if she can ever feel anything ever again similar to what she felt for Sonya.
Maya da Costa hits it out of the park here, with every nuance ringing true. It’s hard not to feel all her pains and passions and it’s easy to view Molloy’s character as something of a villain, at first. Sonya isn’t bad, she just has more experience with life than Coley.
Myra Molloy, as the more level-headed lover, is also effective. She seems to be bisexual and has to choose between the challenges of her life and embracing a relationship with the loving and sensitive Coley. There’s plenty of chemistry between da Costa and Molloy so it’s hard to know why they can’t ride off into the sunset together except to say life just gets in the way.
Zach Braff is very emotional in terms of the way he brings the dad to life. Braff has never been more vulnerable on-screen than in his work in this film. Braff certainly deserves accolades for his performance in this movie which is full of heart and love.
This film has a post-credits scene that is hopeful, but the ending, itself, is even more moving. It is a bit ambiguous in certain ways, yet it gives us hope for the relationship at the core of the movie. We didn’t need the scene after the credits to know things might turn out the way it is revealed to possibly end up.
Movies about first love are always hard to watch in some ways. One can see how Coley is going to get hurt and one wishes to help her character out somehow while watching da Costa go through a wide range of emotions on-screen. It’s truly a remarkable performance from da Costa.
What’s most surprising about Girls Like Girls is how it makes Sonya so interesting and realistic as a character. One understands she is being a bit selfish and can relate to why she is pushing love away. The writing of Sonya is completely believable and it makes the character that much stronger on-screen.
Nicole Kidman says in her AMC Theaters intro to every movie that plays in the theater chain that “Heartbreak feels good in a place like this.” That is certainly the case with Girls Like Girls. We feel everything that Coley feels and this is the type of movie Kidman’s line sums up perfectly.
Girls Like Girls will make viewers emotionally invested in the material and may even make at least a few cry. Any tears this movie inspires are fully earned by the quality of the material. Braff and da Costa’s brief scenes together are certain to touch the heart thanks to their sincerity and the work of the talented performers at hand.
This film marks the rise of a particularly talented filmmaker. Hayley Kiyoko took 10 years to bring this project to the silver screen and her heart is fully invested in the material.
She gets the details so perfect in almost every scene that the picture could be set anywhere in America it wanted to be thanks to the fact that the themes are so universal. Girls Like Girls is an experience to be cherished although there are minor flaws that make it just a little less than perfect as a whole.
Those problems include the development of some of the supporting characters who don’t factor too much into the storyline anyhow.
There are a number of heartbreaking scenes that hit hard and the performances are so in touch with the characters being portrayed. As a result, Girls Like Girls will captivate and possibly remind viewers of any previous heartbreaks that may have been experienced in their lives.
Hayley Kiyoko has crafted an emotionally involving winner that deserves to be a hit with audiences.
—
Girls Like Girls is now playing exclusively in theaters.
Follow us on X and on Instagram!
Like us on Facebook!
Thomas Duffy
Thomas Duffy is a Critics Choice member who has written film reviews for most of his life, starting at age 11 when he crafted his first full length movie critique on the film, "Roxanne," a Cyrano story featuring Steve Martin. As a result of that review and other movie obsessive writing, Thomas was awarded a creative writing award in sixth grade. Thomas is the proud author of nine books, including two highly acclaimed novels, "To Never Know" and "Social Work." Thomas can be found on X (formerly known as Twitter) or at a New York City movie theater watching the latest hit or independent movie. You can also run into him at Tribeca or at the New York Film Festival.