The Unicorn Scale: Boy Meets Girl

By Jennie Roberson

July 13, 2021

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Photo credit: Image/Wolfe Video

With these lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer come a hearty helping of familiar film fare. Sure, we’ve got plenty of tentpole comic book movies and gut-busting broad comedies ready to go in both theaters and our streaming services. But another one of my favorite veins of entertainment in the summer story genres is coming-of-age narratives — particularly if they focus on that one magical summer that changes a character forever. (Dirty Dancing is a perfect example of this niche.) And if that character happens to be bisexual? Well, that’s a bullseye for me! With that in mind, today, I'm here to tell you about the criminally under-appreciated 2014 independent feature, Boy Meets Girl.

Before I take a swan-dive into this story, it would be wise to go over a few disclaimers. First and foremost, this review will contain some SPOILERS. I’ll try to keep them light this time, as I really want to encourage readers to go watch this gem of a movie and not know all the twists and turns ahead of time.

Next, I should note the film (though not necessarily this review) dances with a lot of triggering content: transphobia, use of outdated verbiage, use of the R-word, as well as passing mentions of anorexia, drug use, suicide, and self-harm. Finally, if this is your first time coming across this column (welcome!) and you’re a bit thrown off on how we go about rating the queer media in question, you can find out all about our metric here.

Boy Meets Girl is an adult romantic comedy-drama centering on the lives of Ricky (Michelle Hendley), a trans girl striving to save money to move out of her small Kentucky hometown to New York to start her fashion design career, her best friend, Robbie (Michael Welch), and what happens when a rich and engaged young woman, Francesca (Alexandra Turshen), comes into their lives.

Image of Ricky and Robbie looking at eachother, while Robbie smiles and Ricky looks intently at him.
Image/Wolfe Video

What I Liked:

Let’s just come out and say it: There are not nearly enough trans love stories in mainstream media. Definitely not happy ones, and, sadly, not enough narratives where they don’t meet an untimely demise (#KillYourGays has a notorious connection to trans characters in particular with LGBTI characters). On top of all that, Hollywood has a history of hiring cis actors to play trans roles (and reward them for the stories they robbed from trans actors or trans lives they plumbed to portray). So to have a queer, luminous trans character like Ricky that’s also played by a trans actress is a much-needed breath of fresh air. Our heroine is funny, smart, confident, and a well-developed character from the start. Not only that, but Ricky lives in a town that seems to be nearly fully accepting of her trans identity — a rarity in cinema that should become normalized.

I appreciate how accepting and casual Ricky is about exploring her emerging queer identity, as well as Francesca’s departure from her upbringing in exploring a same-sex relationship with Ricky. They can also make fun of themselves as they fumble along in this newfound relationship, self-deprecatingly singing “I Kissed A Girl” to themselves after their first night together. Even Robby (at first) is very accepting of Ricky exploring her bisexuality. Though he ends up opposing their romance, it doesn’t come from a place of biphobia, but jealousy as he realizes his own feelings for his childhood friend. 

Even as the characters are admittedly stumbling through life, love, sex, and relationships, there’s a light touch to the subjects which makes the conversation take on naturalistic flows — like what makes sex acts gay or not (Robby does clearly have a case of the straights, though, and needs to be sat down and explained that there are other valid forms of sex than just penetrative).

Close up of Ricky and Francesca laying down together and kissing with their eyes closed.
Image/Wolfe Video

What I Didn't Like:

I will say it would have been ideal to hear the word “bi” as Francesca and Ricky explore their feelings for each other. The closest that comes from the screenplay is Francesca saying she may be “bicurious.” But it’s odd to me that the main emotional throughline of the narrative is about exploring and affirming Ricky's (and Alexandra’s) bi identity, yet they shy away from using that very word.

While it doesn’t have to do with their burgeoning queer identities, I do have to say that for a town that seems to be so accepting, the dialogue can often come across as educational, with Ricky teaching other characters about her trans identity. Because of this, Ricky can come across as too patient to be a real human, with saint-like levels of patience.

It also doesn’t help much that Ricky and Francesca’s relationship starts out as an affair (since Francesca is engaged). While the rest of her character breaks away from the bi villain stereotypes, being an adulterer doesn’t really help us break from unfair molds the community gets shoved into. I do appreciate that Ricky tries to resist getting involved, and we all make mistakes, but to make this the emotional thrust of the plot can do a lot of damage to the faith people have in her character — which we really don’t need in this type of sorely-needed representation.

Image of Ricky and Francesca looking annoyed together at Robbie in a room.
Image/Wolfe Video

The Rating:

Despite my quibbles, Boy Meets Girl is a peach of a film. I’ve wanted to review it here for a long time because it’s such a warm, sunny story that deserves to get more eyeballs on it — both for supporting independent film as well as highlighting much-needed-but-rarely-seen intersectional love stories. Ricky and Francesca are fully fleshed-out bi characters that get full emotional arcs and a solid amount of character development. Maybe next time we get this type of summer-by-the-lake story, though, the characters or creators won’t be terrified of using the term “bi” for sticklers like me who are dying to hear it come out of their mouths.

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