Daisy Winters

This drama is under-directed to the point of being alternately lifeless and awkward, but the main character has an appealing spunkiness that sometimes elevates the film. Daisy Winters is like a mash-up of an after-school special, a straight-to-video weepie, and a disturbing psychological portrait. But director Beth LaMure can't seem to establish much of a tone for any of these angles; everything is filmed in the most tiresomely basic way imaginable. Most scenes start on cue, with a character entering a room, a knock at the door, or a phone ringing, as if they were all practice exercises in Filmmaking 101.

When the unthinkable moment happens, it's handled with such odd detachment that it's almost shocking. Perhaps even worse is a soundtrack full of navel-gazing, mediocre pop music. The seasoned actors have a hard time with their thin characters, especially Preston, who doesn't seem to get where her Margaret is coming from. The younger actors are even stiffer, although Jerins, a veteran of movies like World War Z, The Conjuring 2, and Paterson, occasionally bursts to life with moments of thoughtful intuition; she makes Daisy a character who deserved a stronger, more daring movie.