Movie Review Barely Lethal is a 2015 American teen independent action comedy film directed by Kyle Newman and written by John D'Arco, starring Hailee Steinfeld , Sophie Turner , Jessica Alba , and Samuel L. Jackson . The film follows a teenage special ops agent (Steinfeld) yearning for a "normal" adolescence who fakes her own death and enrolls as an "exchange" student in a suburban American high school. She quickly learns that surviving the treacherous waters of being a teenager can be more difficult than international espionage. Plot The young female orphans in the government-run Prescott Academy are trained to become assassins. Their number one rule, taught by trainer Hardman ( Samuel L. Jackson ), is "no attachments". Agent 83 has top skills, which have made her rivals with Agent 84. 83 has always been curious about the world outside the Academy, brushing up on teen culture through popular magazines and watching movies and TV shows