Later this week Sean Penn will play a hired killer who grows tired of killing in The Gunman, and it's a story we've seen told numerous times before mostly from the perspective of middle-aged men. But what happens when the one trying to escape a life of murder is a teenaged girl? That's what we'll find out in the new action-comedy Barely Lethal, and the first trailer for it has now arrived.
Starring Hailee Steinfeld, Jessica Alba, Samuel L. Jackson, Sophie Turner, and Jaime King, the film centers on a young girl raised to be a deadly assassin. But when she decides to start a new life, she fakes her own death and tries to live like a normal girl. Unfortunately, "normal" isn't so easy either, and it doesn't get better when her past comes back to haunt her.
The film is directed by Kyle Newman, who is probably best known for the Star Wars road trip comedy, Fanboys. That should tell you what you need to know about the tone, and at least from this trailer his attempts to blend in serious consequences don't seem to be paying off. But it could just be a badly cut trailer because the talent involved is definitely impressive. Barely Lethal has yet to gain a release date but is expected some time this year.
