Fierce (2020)

Fierce (2020)

 2/10

Starring

Maciej Zakościelny

Julia Kamińska

Anita Sokołowska

Tomasz Karolak

Directed by Anna Wieczur-Bluszcz

Ever felt the need to justify yourself?
That’s exactly how this movie makes you feel after watching it—especially if you have to write a review about it.

I’ve seen worse B-movies, let me tell you, but this one is right up there with the rest of them. It’s stuffed with clichés, lazy dialogue, and acting so bad it feels like it deserves a slap. The movie is supposed to be a musical comedy about a young adult finding herself, with a sprinkle of romance. But what it delivers is a boring musical with ridiculous drama and a romance plot so poorly written, my four-year-old niece could come up with something better in her made-up stories.

The movie’s supposed message revolves around the pitfalls of chasing fame and its aftermath. Unfortunately, it fails miserably at delivering that message, bogged down by its weak drama.

This Polish film starts with a group of young actors—easily among the worst I’ve seen—gathered around a TV watching what’s apparently the country’s most popular singing competition. The main judge, Olo, is a blatant (and terrible) Simon Cowell knockoff. One of the young women watching is Martha, who goes by the stage name "Fierce." (The title of the movie makes sense now, doesn’t it?) We quickly learn that Martha is Olo’s love child. Olo, a once-famous musician, abandoned Martha’s mother in pursuit of fame after getting her pregnant.

Of course, you can probably guess where this is going. The competition eventually comes to Martha’s town, searching for talent. Martha auditions, and this is where the movie goes off the rails. Instead of singing, she storms on stage and angrily confronts Olo, dissing him live on air. Security has to intervene and pull her off stage. Naturally, this earns her a lot of attention, and the show’s producer decides to let Martha through to the next round—not because of her talent, but because her outburst makes for great TV ratings.

Here’s where things get even dumber: Martha, who is supposedly not much of a singer, suddenly belts out a stunning performance from absolutely nowhere. At this point, the rest of the plot becomes entirely predictable, and I’m already bored recounting it.

The movie is riddled with annoyances, but the biggest one is the producer. He doesn’t bother investigating the truth behind Martha’s claim that Olo is her father. Then there’s Martha, who gets swept up in her newfound fame and becomes a total mess. To top it off, her estranged parents, in the middle of searching for her, decide to pause their frantic hunt... for a romantic kiss. Where did that even come from? This is one of the most awkward, random moments I’ve ever seen in a movie. Even the girls I was watching with turned to each other, asking, “From where?!”

Speaking of the girls, this was their pick for our weekend movie night. By the end, they hated it just as much as us guys did.

This is a total skip on Netflix.