History YMMV / OddGirlOut

** How much of a "NiceGuy" was Tony? While he did have mutual feelings for Vanessa, he also was quick to believe Stacy's lies about her betraying his confidence and sat back and said/did nothing throughout all of the hate campaign that her ex-friends and others waged against her (in spite of him being at the root of their rift). He didn't even figure back into the plot until he was seen applauding Vanessa when she told Stacy off at the end. Not to mention that his introduction into the film was engaging in a fight with [[EvilRedhead Ezra.]]

** Vanessa walking into school [[spoiler: after recovering from her suicide attempt]]. What sells it is that she sees Tiffany and cheerfully calls out [[RefugeInAudacity hello to her]] - and you see Tiffany [[BreakTheHaughty looking terrified]].

** Before that, Emily giving Stacy a verbal smackdown in class when the latter tries to feign innocence over [[spoiler: the suicide attempt]].
--> "[[ShutUpHannibal Stacy drove Vanessa to it!]]"
* DesignatedVillain: Denise Larson, Stacy's mother. Granted, she was somewhat of a snob and was a part of the overwhelming AdultsAreUseless dynamic of the film, but keep in mind, she wasn't an active force in defusing the situation because she believed the lies her daughter gave her about Vanessa. At different points, both of her parents mention what a good girl Vanessa is and she even accurately asked if the heart of the argument between the two of them was the boy, Tony, that she liked (which it was, as well as the girls' jealousy of Vanessa and Nikki's manipulation), only for Stacy to lie to her again and continue to demonize her.

* LoveToHate: Elizabeth Rice is disturbingly effective as Nikki. Especially when she shoots a SlasherSmile at Vanessa's mother one day. Even now when she's moved onto different roles, she'll still be complimented on her performance here.

** Stacy crosses it by pretending to reconcile with Vanessa, then inviting her to a non-existent birthday party, which sends Vanessa into a complete breakdown and [[spoiler: drives her to attempt suicide]]. She had nothing to gain from doing this besides wanting to torment Vanessa [[ForTheEvulz for its own sake]]. When Vanessa ends up in the hospital, Stacy not only doesn't bother to visit her, but she continues to manipulate her and betray her trust even afterwards.
** Nikki and Tiffany cross it when [[spoiler: they laugh at Vanessa's suicide attempt]], which even Stacy seems briefly taken aback by.

** After discovering her friends have stood her up for a party, Vanessa has a DespairEventHorizon. The scene would be effective if not for a random shot of her mother pouring honey from a teddy bear jar into a cup. It's in slow motion too.

** Some of the insults lobbied at Vanessa are so over-the-top and [[LameComeback lame]] that you can't help but laugh or at least snicker and roll your eyes. Examples include some the IM messages sent to her as seen through FreezeFrameBonus ("How much is that doggie in the window? Woof-woof!", "That biyotch is a biyotch!", "She looks like she got hit with an ugly forest", etc.) and, of course, Nikki and Tiffany's PissTakeRap at the cafe.

** There's also the creepy way Vanessa's attempted ImportantHaircut is filmed and lit. And the misdirection - she's remembering comments about her weight and feeling her stomach, with a pair of scissors on the sink. Many viewers mistakenly believed she was about to start cutting herself.

** The BathroomStallOfOverheardInsults cuts especially deep, because the girls ''know'' Vanessa is listening and they deliberately say the nastiest things possible just to hurt her. They make fun of her hair, call her fat, and claim she shoplifts because she's poor. All while insinuating that Stacy was only friends with her out of charity.

** The fake party. Vanessa discovering it was all a cruel joke to hurt her even further. Barbara can only look on and realise how her daughter is being tormented. [[spoiler: Then she has to bring her daughter to the hospital for an overdose]].
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: Considering just how awful Nikki was to Vanessa - most viewers finding her worse than Stacy, who at least [[EvenEvilHasStandards has the decency to look shocked]] at [[spoiler: the suicide attempt]] - the movie misses out on a lot by not having Nikki get a more obvious comeuppance. While she doesn't become a complete KarmaHoudini - she's threatened with expulsion along with Tiffany and Ezra - the movie built her up to be so irredeemably evil that you expect her to get a more satisfying punishment.
* UnintentionallySympathetic: Stacy is meant to be seen as the worst of the lot because she switches between having sympathy for Vanessa and taking part in the bullying. Except she's shown to genuinely get shocked by Vanessa's [[spoiler: suicide attempt]] and she comes across as a victim of Nikki's manipulation. While it doesn't excuse her role in the bullying, Nikki was arguably more deserving of a verbal smackdown at the end than Stacy.
* TheWoobie: Good lord, Vanessa. Her friends turn on her because a boy liked her better than Stacy, and she's bullied so relentlessly she chops her hair off and eventually [[spoiler: overdoses on pills, and mercifully survives it]].

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Elizabeth Rice is held out as one of the more impressive cast members, purely because of how evil she made Nikki. Even now when she's moved onto different roles, she'll still be complimented on her performance here.
* HoYay: Vanessa and Emily have this. It certainly helps that their two actresses have plenty of chemistry together.

* NightmareFuel: Elizabeth Rice is genuinely unsettling in some scenes, particularly when she intimidates Vanessa during soccer. It's what marks her FaceHeelTurn, and can hit home for those who suffered in similar ways.

* UnintentionallySympathetic: Stacy is meant to be seen as the worst of the lot because she switches between having sympathy for Vanessa and taking part in the bullying. Except she's shown to genuinely get shocked by Vanessa's [[spoiler: suicide attempt]] and she comes across as a victim of Nikki's manipulation. While it doesn't excuse her role in the bullying, Nikki was arguably more deserving of a verbal smackdown at the end than Stacy.

** For that matter, is Ezra really that bad? He was no more to blame for the fight than Tony, and he seemed reasonably receptive to him afterwards.

** Ezra, who, while having a mean streak, and an aggressive streak, doesn't seem to be as bad as the film makes him out to be.

* UnintentionallySympathetic: Stacy is meant to be seen as the worst of the lot because she switches between having sympathy for Vanessa and taking part in the bullying. Except she's shown to genuinely get shocked by Vanessa's [[spoiler: suicide attempt]] and she comes across as a victim of Nikki's manipulation. While it doesn't excuse her role in the bullying, Nikki was arguably more deserving of a verbal smackdown at the end than Stacy.
* Ezra, who seems to be hated for being a "weasel" rather than any real reason.

* UnintentionallySympathetic: Stacy is meant to be seen as the worst of the lot because she switches between having sympathy for Vanessa and taking part in the bullying. Except she's shown to genuinely get shocked by Vanessa's [[spoiler: suicide attempt]] and she comes across as a victim of Nikki's manipulation. While it doesn't excuse her role in the bullying, Nikki was arguably more deserving of a verbal smackdown at the end than Stacy.

* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: The film is very {{Anvilicious}} but if the cases of Phoebe Prince and other bullied students are anything to go by then something '''has''' to be done about bullying. Vanessa was lucky [[spoiler: that her suicide attempt didn't work]] and that she had people that wanted to help her.

** How much of a "NiceGuy" was Tony? While he did have mutual feelings for Vanessa, he also was quick to believe Stacy's lies about her betraying his confidence and sat back and said/did nothing throughout all of the hate campaign that her ex-friends and others waged against her (in spite of him being at the root of their rift). He didn't even figure back into the plot until he was seen applauding Vanessa when she told Stacy off at the end. Not to mention that his introduction into the film was engaging in a fight with [[EvilRedhead Ezra.]] Then again, maybe he tried to stay out of what he thought was catty mud slinging between friends, not realising how serious it was until it was too late.

** How much of a "NiceGuy" was Tony? While he did have mutual feelings for Vanessa, he also was quick to believe Stacy's lies about her betraying his confidence and sat back and said/did nothing throughout all of the hate campaign that her ex-friends and others waged against her (in spite of him being at the root of their rift). He didn't even figure back into the plot until he was seen applauding Vanessa when she told Stacy off at the end. Not to mention that his introduction into the film was engaging in a fight with [[EvilRedhead Ezra.]]

* PositiveDiscrimination: All the bullies, sans for one dark skinned girl, are white while Emily and the principal who end up helping Vanessa are black. Vanessa's mother is also Hispanic.

** Stacy crosses it by pretending to reconcile with Vanessa, then inviting her to a non-existent birthday party, which sends Vanessa into a complete breakdown and drives her to attempt suicide. She had nothing to gain from doing this besides wanting to torment Vanessa [[ForTheEvulz for its own sake]]. When Vanessa ends up in the hospital, Stacy not only doesn't bother to visit her, but she continues to manipulate her and betray her trust even afterwards.

* AssPull: Stacy shows genuine remorse and sympathy for [[spoiler: Vanessa's suicide attempt]]. The fake IM conversation they have towards the end, that pushes Vanessa to finally call her out, is a complete 180 and more like something Nikki would do.

** Given how Nikki is clearly a functioning sociopath, Stacy's participation in the bullying could be brought on by fear of what Nikki would do to ''her'' if she didn't take part.

* MoralEventHorizon: Nikki and Tiffany cross it when [[spoiler: they laugh at Vanessa's suicide attempt]].

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: It's very obvious this is a mid-2000s work. While it does touch on cyber bullying, the taunts are delivered via a website set up to humiliate Vanessa and instant messages. In fact one of the reasons the principal can't take harsher action on the bullies is because she can't prove their identities via the screen names. The fact that there's not a mention of Facebook is very telling. Especially since one of the stunts involves telling Vanessa there's a party on somewhere when there isn't; in the days where anything is done with an event invite, Vanessa likely would have caught on to the ruse. Finally [[spoiler: Vanessa is filmed being taken into an ambulance]] by a guy using a video camera rather than a smartphone.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Given how Nikki is clearly a functioning sociopath, Stacy's participation in the bullying could be brought on by fear of what Nikki would do to ''her'' if she didn't take part.

* DesignatedVillain: Denise Larson, Stacy's mother. Granted, she was somewhat of a snob and was a part of the overwhelming AdultsAreUseless dynamic of the film, but keep in mind, she wasn't an active force in diffusing the situation because she believed the lies her daughter gave her about Vanessa. At different points, both of her parents mention what a good girl Vanessa is and she even accurately asked if the heart of the argument between the two of them was the boy, Tony, that she liked (which it was, as well as the girls' jealousy of Vanessa and Nikki's manipulation), only for Stacy to lie to her again and continue to demonize her.

* DesignatedVillain: Denise Larson, Stacy's mother. Granted, she was somewhat of a snob and was a part of the overwhelming AdultsAreUseless dynamic of the film, but keep in mind, she wasn't an active force in diffusing the situation because she believed the b.s. her daughter gave her about Vanessa. At different points, both of her parents mention what a good girl Vanessa is and she even accurately asked if the heart of the argument between the two of them was the boy, Tony, that she liked (which it was, as well as the girls' jealousy of Vanessa and Nikki's manipulation), only for Stacy to lie to her again and continue to demonize her.

* UnintentionallySympathetic: Stacy is meant to be seen as the worst of the lot because she switches between having sympathy for Vanessa and taking part in the bullying. Except she's shown to genuinely get shocked by Vanessa's [[spoiler: suicide attempt]] and she comes across as a victim of Nikki's manipulation. While it doesn't excuse her role in the bullying, Nikki was arguably more deserving of a verbal smackdown at the end than Stacy.

* CompleteMonster: Nikki. While Stacy shows at least some remorse in places, Nikki clearly loves the bullying [[spoiler:even when Vanessa attempts suicide]].

* UnfortunateImplications: Nikki seemingly getting away scott-free with the bullying. The closest thing to comeuppance she gets is the principal threatening her with suspension for her e-mails. But she continues with the bullying anyway. In today's society she could be realistically do jail time for her harassment of Vanessa.

* PositiveDiscrimination: All the bullies, sans for one dark skinned girl, are white while Emily and the principal who end up helping Vanessa are black. Vanessa's mother is also Hispanic.