It is because of the strength of her performance and willingness to lay herself bare that her character doesn't stray into
manic pixie dream girl territory — she's much too fully realized, even as a
fantasy, to be rendered that shallow of a stereotype.
On the surface, Kazan, who also wrote the film, has scripted a somewhat clever takedown of the «
manic pixie dream girl» phenomenon, highlighting the implausibility of male expectations in a similar manner to how Weird Science looked at the
fantasy of the buxom bombshell back in the»80s.