In the wake of the success of "To All The Boys I've Loved Before," many have been wondering what Netflix's next big rom-com hit would be, and a large number of people had faith in "Sierra Burgess Is A Loser"—including myself! It had all the hype it needed: Noah Centineo plays the love interest, the female lead doesn't fit into the typical image of societal beauty, and there has been a lot of buzz surrounding the trailers.

But unfortunately, I was disappointed with this film, and I'm not the only one.

The premise seems innocent enough. A boy and girl start texting, but the boy is under the impression that the person he's speaking to is someone else. In hindsight, I wonder why this didn't set off more red flags in my head. I rarely ever sympathize with catfishing as it builds relationships up on a toxic foundation and makes it clear that one (or two) people in the relationship are a complete liar, but still, I was excited about this film.

There are many aspects of the film that I disliked. For one, Sierra undergoes little character development. The fact that she continues to catfish Noah Centineo's character—or Jamey—implies that she is manipulative, and her actions throughout the film only serve to reinforce this.

Spoiler alert!

She fakes being deaf in front of someone who is actually deaf to keep her facade going, she publishes a private photo and exposes her friend, Veronica, because Jamey kisses her thinking that she is who he has been talking to this entire time, and she kisses Jamey without him realizing that it's her. Think about it: if the roles were reversed and Jamey was the girl, people would be freaking out! And they should be! Boys can be harassed too, and the message this scene puts forward is harmful.

If you think Sierra considers apologizing for any of it, you're wrong! All she does it send Veronica a song that she's written about her personal struggles, and Veronica somehow manages to forgive her even though she's been publicly humiliated by Sierra. Even Jamey comes around to her towards the end—again, by hearing the same song—and all the catfishing and lies are pushed beneath the rug. This implies that your experiences cancel out the terrible things you do to others, and that is not the case. You don't have permission to be a harmful person because life doesn't turn out your way.

The film even contains several offensive trans jokes. Some might argue that these are meant to show how terrible Veronica is at the beginning to highlight her development later on, but even her best friend goes on to make these jokes. Instead of shutting down these comments, they are played off as something funny to laugh at which is dehumanizing in itself. I would see it differently if these jokes were limited to the bullies, but they aren't. Everyone makes them towards Sierra, and the screenwriters should've known better.

There are a few redeeming qualities in the film. Veronica's character development completely overturns the cliche mean girl trope, and she comes out of the film as the better person. Without her, the film might've been a complete flop. There is also some light in Jamey, the love interest, who is caught in the middle of the lies and manipulated. He is a great character, and it's a shame that Sierra hurt him the way she did.

Overall, if you want to see the film, you should give it a shot. There are certain aspects that I loved, even though Sierra is far from my favorite main character and certain jokes and actions were off-putting. But if Netflix expected this to be their next big hit, they are wrong. I do hope they come back with a stronger contender next time.