WISE Score
Avg. Tomatometer
A cringe-comedy about a woman who fakes cancer to keep her friends from ghosting her as they drift into adulthood.
38%
38%View →Look, the reviews aren't great for a reason. Sick Girl tries to walk the line between 'messy indie comedy' and 'dark satire,' but it mostly just lands in a valley of awkwardness that isn't particularly funny or insightful.
Unless you're a die-hard Nina Dobrev fan or you have a very high tolerance for characters who make exclusively bad choices, this is a skip. It’s the kind of movie that feels longer than its runtime because you're constantly waiting for a payoff that never quite arrives.
This is strictly for older teens (16+) and adults. The themes of millennial malaise and the specific social dynamics of adult friend groups will likely bore younger kids, even if the 'faking sick' premise sounds like something they'd do to get out of school.
The entire plot hinges on a woman faking a terminal illness to manipulate her friends into spending time with her. While it's a comedy about insecurity, the core behavior is the opposite of wholesome.
It follows a fairly standard 'stunted adult' indie comedy template. It doesn't break much new ground in terms of visual style or narrative structure.
For older teens, it's safe enough—no extreme violence or gore. However, the emotional manipulation and the heavy subject matter of faking cancer make it inappropriate for younger audiences who can't parse the satire.
It attempts to tackle the genuine pain of 'friendship drift' as people enter different life stages (marriage, kids), but the execution is often described as too mean-spirited to offer much real insight.
We’ve seen this before—most notably in shows like Sick Note—and it’s a tough needle to thread. To make a comedy about faking a terminal illness work, the satire needs to be razor-sharp or the character needs a Redemptive Arc that actually feels earned. Sick Girl struggles with both. Critics, including those at Variety, found it 'fatally unfunny,' largely because the protagonist's actions are so egregious it’s hard to root for her even in a 'love to hate her' way.
Where the movie actually has something to say is in its depiction of the mid-20s to early-30s transition. There is a real, stinging honesty in how it portrays the 'stunted' friend who hasn't moved on to the next life stage while everyone else is buying houses and talking about diapers. If you're watching this with a teen, that’s the angle to lean into: the fear of being left behind and the desperate, stupid things people do when they feel invisible.
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