(2011) ***1/2
A statement at the beginning of Meghan is Missing informs us that 14-year-old Meghan and her best friend, 13-year-old Amy, disappeared in 2007. The film pieces together their disappearance through the use of Web Cam, cell phones, and home videos.
Meghan is a promiscuous, popular party girl and Amy is the exact opposite. Although it is never clear why Meghan would spend any time with her socially withdrawn, button down friend, somehow their relationship works. We learn that Meghan was sexually abused as a child, which most likely accounts for her risky behavior. Eventually she begins speaking to an unseen man online named “Josh” and later informs Amy that she is going to meet up with Josh at a party. Amy never sees Meghan again. After following clues that might help explain what happened to Meghan, she too disappears.
Meghan is Missing is unsettling for a number of reasons. Although I haven’t been a teenager in a long time I was, quite frankly, shocked by the film’s explicit depiction of teenage conversations and behavior. This is not the teenage world I recall. From drugs and alcohol to oral sex, these teens scared me. The director takes his time setting up the characters and showing us the daily lives of teens as they navigate through the sometimes harsh world of high school. Once Meghan begins speaking to Josh the film takes a sinister turn and her fate (and later Amy’s) is chilling and depressing. If some of the language was toned down a bit Meghan is Missing could be shown in high schools as a cautionary tale about stranger danger. The final 20 minutes are a gut-punch.
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