Skip to content
Wherever I Look Logo

Wherever I Look

  • HomeExpand
    • About Wherever I LookExpand
      • Our Writers
    • Editorial Guidelines
    • Cookie & Privacy Policy
    • Contact Us
    • HTML Sitemap
  • TV Shows
  • Movies
  • Character Guide
  • Live Performances
  • Videos
Wherever I Look Logo
Wherever I Look

Home - Movies - Miller’s Girl – Movie Review and Summary

Miller’s Girl – Movie Review and Summary

Jenna Ortega matches wits with Martin Freeman, in a movie that has them blur the lines between student and high school teacher.

ByAmari Allah Hours Posted onJanuary 30, 2024 10:42 PMMay 30, 2024 9:56 AM Hours Updated onMay 30, 2024 9:56 AM
Cairo (Jenna Ortega) and Mr. Miller (Martin Freeman)

Spoiler Alert: This summary and review contains spoilers.


Additionally, some images and text may include affiliate links, meaning we may earn a commission or receive products if you make a purchase.


  • Plot Summary
    • Content Information
  • General Information
    • Character Descriptions
      • Cairo (Jenna Ortega)
      • Winnie (Gideon Adlon)
      • Mr. Miller (Martin Freeman)
      • Mr. Fillmore (Bashir Salahuddin)
      • Beatrice (Dagmara Dominczyk)
  • Review
    • Notable Performances or Moments
      • Jenna Ortega
    • Highlights
      • The Games People Play
    • Recommendations

Plot Summary

We’re in Tennessee. Cairo is 18, but she is in high school, and her parents are wealthy. I’m talking about expensive lawyers who travel a lot, own a huge mansion, and leave their daughter to her Belle in “Beauty And the Beast” number of books.

So, through Winnie, Cairo gets her entertainment when not reading a book about longing. However, in her senior year, she meets Mr. Miller, a writer with one published poetry book with middling reviews, who has gone through the fallback of many a writer: teaching. He is married to someone who seems to be in the literary world, always working, so he gets his enjoyment daily from young minds like Cairo’s and his best friend and fellow teacher, Mr. Fillmore.

But, with Cairo reading Mr. Miller’s book, and being very complimentary to his work and stimulating to his brain, lines begin to blur. Mind you, Mr. Fillmore allows the lines to blur too with Winnie, so both are playing a dangerous game which, for Mr. Miller’s wife, Beatrice, in the beginning, she finds entertaining, hot even.

However, there comes a point where blurred lines have to become firm, and that is when Mr. Miller learns the extent of not only Cairo’s brilliance but so much more.

Content Information

  • Dialog: Cursing
  • Violence: Nothing notable
  • Sexual Content: Sexual Situations (Implied)
  • Miscellaneous: Drinking, Smoking

General Information

Director(s)

Jade Halley Bartlett

Screenplay By

Jade Halley Bartlett

Based On Work By

N/A

Date Released

January 26, 2024

How To Watch

In Theaters

Genre(s)

Comedy

Drama

Young Adult

Film Length

1 Hour 33 Minutes

Content Rating

Rated R

Noted Characters and Cast

Cairo

Jenna Ortega

Winnie

Gideon Adlon

Mr. Miller

Martin Freeman

Mr. Fillmore

Bashir Salahuddin

Beatrice

Dagmara Dominczyk

Character Descriptions

Please Note: This character guide is not an exhaustive list of every cast member, and character descriptions may contain what can be considered spoilers.

Cairo (Jenna Ortega)

Cairo is an 18-year-old young woman who wants to go to Yale and have Tennessee and her parents just be a chapter in her past. But, one problem is that her life is unremarkable. Yes, she has a high GPA, but with no sports or extracurricular activities, what is she beyond a smart, rich girl? One who only knows love and romance through the tantalizing books she reads.

  • The actor is also known for their role in “Saturday Night Live: Season 48/Episode 15 “Jenna Ortega/1975.”

Winnie (Gideon Adlon)

Winnie is Cairo’s best friend, her source of entertainment beyond books, who is a big-time flirt, smart, and seems to be a killer at marketing.

  • The actor is also known for their role in “The Craft: Legacy.”

Mr. Miller (Martin Freeman)

With one book released, to middling reviews, Mr. Miller and his wife have settled in a town in Tennessee where Mr. Miller can lick his wounds, do a fallback job, and potentially be a big fish in a little pond.

  • The actor is also known for their role in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.”

Mr. Fillmore (Bashir Salahuddin)

A teacher, a coach, Mr. Miller’s best friend, since Mr. Miller married his wife, Mr. Fillmore is a cool dude. However, with being single and tempted by girls like Winnie, while he may seem like a jolly, friendly, biscuit-making person like Mr. Miller, he isn’t above finding affection and admiration where he can get it.

  • The actor is also known for their role in “Snatched.”

Beatrice (Dagmara Dominczyk)

Mr. Miller’s wife, who often argues with someone over the phone, is shown drinking or working, rarely leaves the house, and with how stable and sometimes boring Mr. Miller is, she finds the whole situation with Cairo perhaps the first time he has been interesting in a long time.

Review

Notable Performances or Moments

Jenna Ortega

Taking absolutely nothing away from Martin Freeman, Jenna Ortega makes this movie. Her take on the femme fatale, as this young, partly impressionable, undeniably brilliant girl who slowly falls for her teacher? Oh, it is hard not to love, especially as you see her trying to play the role of the characters she has read about, if not be the person Winnie likes to play up, even if she isn’t willing to cross the line.

However, while the flirty side she shows Mr. Miller is notable, so is when she gets dark. In fact, she delivers a read of Mr. Miller on the levels of Elektra in “Pose.” It is so cutting and devasting that when Freeman seems at a loss for words, it’s like it wasn’t acting, but he was taking the moment personally. Especially when, during the delivery, Ortega decides to lift his chin and make him focus, as her admiration, her burgeoning love, her crush, becomes disappointment, disdain, and maybe a dash of self-loathing for she felt anything for this man.

Highlights

The Games People Play

Let it be known, it isn’t just Ortega and Freeman who are playing a dangerous game; others are too. Mr. Fillmore, Winnie, and Mr. Miller’s wife, Beatrice, are also playing. Winnie finds herself a plaything for Cairo and Mr. Fillmore as she pushes Cairo to do more, tempts Mr. Fillmore, and finds herself drawn into Cairo’s retribution for Mr. Miller.

But Beatrice she is a character. Entertained by Cairo’s crush, initially, you can see her making a game out of the piece that Cairo wrote that made it clear boundaries had to be drawn. The idea that anyone desired her husband is a turn-on and perhaps the most exciting thing that has happened to him in years. Though, Beatrice isn’t above picking with Mr. Fillmore either.

In fact, I’d say Cairo and Beatrice aren’t too dissimilar. Both seem bored, filling themselves with fantasies, ideas, and distractions from their reality, looking for something or someone stimulating to help them escape the mundane routine of Tennessee. I’d even say, the ghost of Christmas future for Cairo could be Beatrice.

Recommendations

Good If You Like

  • Femme Fatales
  • Women behaving badly
  • Stupid men

If You Like This Movie, We Recommend:

  1. Alias Grace

Check out our movies page for our latest movie reviews and recommendations.


Follow/Subscribe To Our External Pages

  • YouTube
  • TikTok
  • Amazon
  • Google
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • X

Miller’s Girl – Movie Review

Summary

Our Rating: Positive (Worth Seeing) – Recommended

“Miller’s Girl” reminds you why Jenna Ortega is in demand. She has range, and while her favorite kind of roles might be in something horror-related, she isn’t one note, and through showing all sides of Cairo, you get that.

Overall
85%
85%
  • The Games People Play - 83%
    83%
  • Jenna Ortega - 87%
    87%
Sending
User Review
0 (0 votes)

Pros

  • The Games People Play
  • Jenna Ortega

Cons

  • N/A

Listed Under Categories: Movies, Positive (Worth Seeing)

Related Tags: Bashir Salahuddin, Comedy, Dagmara Dominczyk, Drama, Gideon Adlon, In Theaters, Jade Halley Bartlett, Jenna Ortega, Martin Freeman, Rated R, Young Adult

Amari Allah

Amari is the founder and head writer of Wherever-I-Look.com and has been writing reviews since 2010, with a focus on dramas and comedies.

Facebook Instagram YouTube

Post navigation

Previous Previous
Veni Vidi Vici (2024) – Review and Summary
NextContinue
Mr. and Mrs. Smith: Season 1/ Episode 1 – Episode Recap & Review

Site Pages

  • Home
  • About Wherever I Look
  • Contact Us
  • Cookie & Privacy Policy
  • Disclaimer & Disclosure Policy
  • Editorial Guidelines
  • HTML Sitemap
  • Our Writers
The Wherever I Look logo featuring a film reel, a video game controller, old school TV set, a stage, and more done by artist Dean Nelson.

The overall goal of Wherever I Look is to fill in that space between the average fan and critic and advise you on what’s worth experiencing.

Category Pages

  • Articles
  • Character Guide
  • Collected Quotes
  • Live Peformances
  • Movies
  • Our Latest Reviews
  • TV Series
  • Video Page
Scroll to top

Wherever I Look logo

Welcome to Wherever I Look, your go-to destination for insightful and personable reviews of the latest TV episodes, movies, and live performances. Also, dive into our character guides and discover what’s truly worth your time.

  • Home
    • About Wherever I Look
      • Our Writers
    • Editorial Guidelines
    • Cookie & Privacy Policy
    • Contact Us
    • HTML Sitemap
  • TV Shows
  • Movies
  • Character Guide
  • Live Performances
  • Videos
Search