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A 2011 limited-release Road Trip Plot film based on the novel, directed by Derick Martini and starring Chloë Grace Moretz, in a role that evokes some of the Troubling Unchildlike Behavior from her other big movies, taken up to eleven.

Luli (Moretz) is 13 years old, from the middle of Nebraska, daughter of two alcoholic parents and way too influenced by Western pop culture. She always tells Blatant Lies to make her miserable home life seem not so bad. When her parents seem to abandon her one day, she chances upon a commercial on the TV for Las Vegas, and she decides straight away to escape, eventually falling in with the worst kind of people...


Provides examples of:

  • Abusive Parents: Luli's parents just leave her alone one day, inspiring her escape.
  • Attempted Rape: Luli is nearly raped by a man in the bathroom, but manages to hold him off long enough before Eddie intervenes.
  • Ax-Crazy: From the start, we can tell that Eddie's a little off, but then he decides that he and Luli are somehow star-crossed lovers, ties her to a bed and most likely rapes her.
  • Bittersweet Ending: Luli's dad's just gone and her Mom's sold their land to a developer, she's witnessed two murders and caused another, and she is totally disillusioned about her life. But Beau, the 'cleaner', offers Luli a place to stay in Los Angeles, where she can hopefully start her young life over.
  • Chained to a Bed: Eventually Eddie snaps and decides Luli is his soulmate, tying her to a bed. Maybe other things happened too...
  • Fille Fatale: Luli, blatantly. Despite being only 13, she spends a majority of the film in tiny, revealing outfits that seem to have been designed by pedophiles for pedophiles. She has no qualms about walking around in her underwear in front of strangers, routinely asks strange men if they think she's pretty and if they want to kiss her, etc. all in attempts to manipulate them into doing what she wants. Practically any scene she shares with a male character is incredibly uncomfortable to watch.
  • I Just Shot Marvin in the Face: Eddie claims the gun is empty (without checking) and dry-fires until (whoops) he finds it isn't, shooting Glenda dead.
  • Nice Guy: Clement, the boy Luli meets at the motel, and Beau, who wants to send Luli to live with his sister to get her as far away from the mess she was in as possible.
  • No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Eddie rescues Luli from a man's rape attempt, then beats him to death in spite of her protests against it.
  • Traumatic Haircut: After being chased and possibly raped by Eddie, Luli wakes up to find her long blonde hair now chopped short and dyed black. Eddie says that he did it because he thought she would like it.
  • Unreliable Narrator: Eddie tells Luli that Glenda gave him a grand to take Luli off her hands. Glenda shows up after a few days after Eddie has taken her hostage, telling her that he lied.

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