Seizures, hallucinations, headaches, random outbursts were all apart of Savannah’s daily life. The mysterious illness was repeatedly undiagnosed by every specialists she went to. Director Gerard Barrett takes Savannah Cahalan’s, an American journalist, book based off of her experience with an immune deficiency disorder that results in the brain being attacked by the body and turns it into a Netflix film called, Brain on Fire.

Susannah Cahalan (Chloe Grace Moretz) is what they call a “cub reporter” in the New York Posts. This 21 year old works as a journalist on small and ultimately meaningless projects, yet she identifies her place at the post as her dream job. Not only is she working her dream job, she is dating and is in love with her dream guy. To sum up her current life Savannah is living in a state of personal euphoria. Unfortunately for Savannah, her state of euphoria may come to an end rather suddenly.

Savannah is plagued by a wide array of mysterious medical conditions such as, change in behavior, seizures, terrible headaches, schizophrenic outbursts, psychosis, memory loss, and bipolar tantrums. The roller coaster of high highs and low lows adds an enormous amount of tension between Savannah and her boss Richard (Tyler Perry), and causes a rift between her and her divorced parents.

Although the film lacked actors and actresses who were able to deliver a strong and convincing performance, Chloe Grace Moretz played a very strong lead as Savannah Cahalan! She delivered exceptional emotion throughout the entire film. The scenes which required her to go into a fit of rage had me truly believing this actress was schizophrenic. I was not surprised that this young actress delivered such a believable performance considering her prior characters in other works such as: Carrie, Kick-Ass, If I stay, and Neighbors 2. I will say although the actress gave a splendid performance, she did not convince me that she was a 21 year old who was trying to advance her future as a journalist. She did not come off as very mature or adult like.

It was unfortunate that her supporting casts delivered a subpar performance. Characters like Savannah’s boyfriend and her parents gave off the impression that they were simply place holders until the real actors and actresses arrived on set.

Although the film by director Gerard Barrett was not cup of tea, I can see how others would find this film entertaining. Those who find medical dramas based on true stories interesting would deeply enjoy this film. Because of the subpar performance by the supporting actors and actresses I would not put this film at the top of my list. After watching this film I would give it a barely solid three out of five stars. Overall the film was not terrible, but the creators of the film missed their mark when it came to casting. The film, Brain on Fire, had so much potential but fell short due to a convincing character portrayal.