Big Girls Don’t Cry — Sundance Review

Being a teenage girl is brutal, especially when you feel like you don’t fit in with any particular friend group, and that’s something that the best coming-of-age films convey all too well. Paloma Schneideman’s feature debut, Big Girls Don’t Cry, joins the ranks of recent Sundance coming-of-age gems such as Sean Wang’s Dìdi (2024) for its mid-2000s nostalgia, and Megan Park’s My Old Ass (2024) for its depiction of sapphic self-discovery. Big Girls Don’t Cry offers that same sense of nostalgia—complete with cameos from Nokia phones and MSN Messenger—and queer representation, through its sensitive snapshot of awkward adolescence. While it does suffer from some clichés and treads familiar territory, it’s still a worthwhile viewing experience.