‘Girls Like Girls’ Review: Hayley Kiyoko Gives Tumblr Lesbians a Dreamy Excuse to Kiss at the Movies
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- Hayley Kiyoko's directorial debut "Girls Like Girls" opens in theaters June 18 via Focus Features, adapted from her 2015 music video that has amassed roughly 163 million YouTube views
- "Girls Like Girls" is set in 2006 Oregon and follows grieving teen Coley (Maya da Costa) who moves in with her estranged father (Zach Braff) and falls for Sonya (Myra Molloy)
- Stefanie Scott co-wrote the screenplay with Kiyoko and also appeared in the 2015 original music video; the film features needle drops from Imogen Heap and Tegan and Sarah
- The IndieWire review praises Maya da Costa's expressive performance and compares the film's melodrama to "The O.C." and its melancholia to Sofia Coppola's "Virgin Suicides"
- The review calls the film "less a standalone work of great cinema...and more an act of dreamy devotion" for Kiyoko's core fanbase, arguing it only comes alive when the central romance starts to strain
- Kiyoko wrote a 2023 best-selling YA novel expanding the music video's characters and notably never casts herself in the film adaptation, building the project as a tribute to her followers
Why it matters: Focus Features' release lands as studios chase internet-native audiences back to theaters and as LGBTQ Americans pay a premium for inclusive experiences; the mixed verdict—devoted to its fanbase but thin as cinema—shows that viral music-video IP needs stronger feature-length execution to expand beyond its built-in base.
