Barely Lethal (2015) is an underrated action-comedy that tells the story of a young government spy agent who had been recruited at a young age and knows nothing of a typical teenage lifestyle outside of what she’s gathered from teen magazines and chick flicks. Despite her desire for attachment, this agent is considered the top agent at the Prescott Agency.
Here, we’re going to look into this young agent and the other characters that helped impact the story throughout the film’s 98-minute runtime. We’ll discuss the character’s personalities, their impact on the story, and any scenes that made a strong impression on the viewer. With plenty of spies and plenty of high-school shenanigans, this film had quite the eclectic cast.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
8 Cash Fenton
Warner Bros. Television Distribution
Cash Fenton (Toby Sebastian) is the boy every girl wants to be with. Well, every girl and one very creepy staff member. Cash is the lead singer and guitarist for the high school rock band and initially the object of Agent 83/Megan’s (Hailee Steinfeld) affection. After helping Megan feel more comfortable on her first day of school, it quickly becomes evident that Cash is used to getting attention from everyone.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
Even Mr. Drumm (Dan Fogler) uses his authority to keep Cash close by, making him his science partner and making multiple attempts to hang out with Cash outside of a school setting. Cash seems to only have eyes for Megan despite Agent 84/Heather’s (Sophie Turner) attempts to seduce him. But when Megan begins to reject him, Cash immediately withdraws emotionally, stating that he needs to get ready for his performance, a clear sign that he isn’t used to being rejected in such a fashion.
7 Bernard
A24
Affectionately known as Gooch, Bernard (Gabriel Basso) comes across as the typical high-school jock. Usually found making bad jokes and harassing Megan for her quirks, Gooch wouldn’t reveal his more vulnerable side until he began to bond with Liz (Dove Cameron.) Liz, frustrated with Megan, joins the party looking to get drunk and finds Gooch in the bathtub, flask in hand.
The two would begin to drunkenly bond, with Gooch even admitting that he wants to become an actor, giving Liz a quick, emotional monologue to display his ability. While the majority of their conversation happens off-screen, when we next see Gooch, he is to be Liz’s date to homecoming and informs Cash that he wants to start going by his real name, Bernard. This vulnerability shows that Liz has truly impacted Bernard and made him just as comfortable being himself as he has made her feel.
6 Mrs. Larson
Mrs. Larson (Rachel Harris) is Liz and Parker’s (Jason Drucker) mother and becomes Megan’s foster mother when Megan takes on the role of a foreign exchange student. After recently losing her husband, Mrs. Larson tries to be more of a fun mother, finding the chance to help be a positive influence in Megan’s life as an opportunity to reconnect with her own children.
Her techniques can be questionable at times, more often than not, leading to Parker openly toying with Megan’s spy equipment and insisting on Megan and Liz going to a house party and getting drunk. While her stern maternal instinct comes out after discovering the girls had stayed at the house overnight, she still positively attempts to influence their lives with her advice and care.
5 Heather
Heather would grow up in the Prescott Agency, constantly battling with Megan in attempts to usurp her role as the number one agent. Continually following the rules to the letter, Heather grows more frustrated as Megan is given all of the high-priority jobs. After catching Agent 1/Victoria Knoxx (Jessica Alba), Heather finds herself easily persuaded by Victoria to become a double agent.
Setting her sights on their mutual enemy in Megan, Heather would follow Megan’s lead in becoming an exchange student and fix her eyes on Cash to get into Megan’s head and ruin her life. When that failed, Heather would begin to seduce Roger (Thomas Mann), knowing that he had his feelings spurned, albeit unintentionally, by Megan. This would lead to quite the battle between the pair, which was the fun action audiences had been waiting for in this action-comedy.
4 Hardman
Hardman (Samuel L. Jackson) is the head of the Prescott Agency and is seen as the opposite of a father figure to the little girls under his employ. Hardman comes across as a hard-headed individual who is all about results and constantly preaching that they are not a rescue team and that the number one rule for all agents is to have zero attachments.
Jackson proves capable of bringing a lot of his signature comedy into the role, with a memorable scene being when he hears an explosion during a training session focused on bomb defusal. He very casually checks on a little girl, telling her that this is why they wear the safety equipment in a gentle yet firm manner that brings a chuckle to the audience.
3 Roger
Warner Bros. Pictures
Roger follows the more prototypical boy-next-door stereotype in that he falls for a girl but is quickly ignored in favor of the more charming schoolboy. Roger tries not to let this dissuade him and continues to be a kind person to Megan, becoming her friend even when she was known as an outcast in the early days of the school year.
While Roger tries to accept that he’s not going to have his feelings for Megan reciprocated, he is preyed upon by Heather. After a fight between Megan and Heather, Roger is left alone at the dance. After sitting miserably, he begins to go with his father, who continues to not fully understand his son when Megan arrives in a helicopter, finally professing that she does return Roger’s feelings.
2 Liz Larson
Dove Cameron brings a lot of sass to her role as Liz, the angsty teenager who seems content to just coast by the school year, keeping her head down. Annoyed at the idea that her family is just openly welcoming a stranger into their home, Liz is curt with Megan. Incredulous at how Megan has gone viral after fighting off kidnappers from a rival high school, Liz would begin to become more openly hostile.
The girls would begin to bond after being attacked by Victoria Knoxx as Megan would come clean about her life as a secret agent. Liz would start to open up to Megan, seeing the two have come to understand one another better over the course of the film. Liv’s bond with Megan and her newfound romance with Bernard help her to open up honestly, and she begins to find happiness amongst her family and friends, seeing Megan as a sister.
1 Megan
Megan grew up as a secret agent wanting nothing more than to feel what it’s like to have attachments and to be a part of a real family. With most of her knowledge of how high school works coming from teen magazines and Mean Girls (2004), Megan initially stands out amongst her peers. Feigning being a foreign exchange student from Canada, Megan tries to get closer to her new family and classmates but ends up committing social faux pas’ such as refusing to sit with a group of girls, assuming they were going to bully her as part of a high-school cheerleader stereotype.
While Hardman tries to take Megan back, she refuses his offer and insists on maintaining her new life as she begins to become popular. After defeating Heather and saving her adoptive family from Victoria Knoxx, Megan would join her new sister Liv in wooing the boys on a helicopter ride to celebrate a very memorable homecoming.
