Review: The Girl Next Door
April 21, 2004; Loews Boston Common #9
* * * ¼ (out of four)
Okay. I admit it. I’m shallow. The first and foremost reason I went to see this movie is due to a cardboard standee advertising the movie in the theatre I work for in Maine. During slow times, employees – and I can’t say I’m not included in this – would spend minutes just staring at the damn thing, basically drooling over Elisha Cuthbert. When I finally saw a preview, I was relieved to see that it actually looks funny. And it is.
Emile Hirsch (The Emperor’s Club) is Matthew Kidman, high-achieving high school senior who is about the graduate and move onto Georgetown. Great for him, but despite being president of the student council and one of the most academically excellent students in school… he has no real memories of senior year. He hasn’t done anything exciting or noteworthy to make it a year worth remembering. His friends are unexciting, and while it bothers him, he just focuses on Georgetown, and shoves his discontent aside. Then Danielle (Elisha Cuthbert, of FOX TV’s 24) moves in next door. Stunningly gorgeous with no visible past, Matthew is instantly intrigued, and even more so when he discovers he can see into her bedroom from his window. A nice perk, until she catches him peeking. She comes over to confront him, and makes him play a little “show me yours, I’ll show you mine”… on her terms. They’re fast friends with obvious hints at more, and everything goes well until an unexpected visitor and a VHS tape reveal a little more about her past as a porn star than Matthew had bargained for. He then must decide what’s more important: ensuring himself a place at Georgetown by nailing a speech to win a scholarship, or pursuing the girl who, much to his pleasure, threatens to turn his whole life upside down.
Get something straight: this movie is frivolous fluff, and nothing more. While that usually wouldn’t fly with me, there are a few key differences between this and “normal” teen romantic comedies. First, all that fluff is done well, something few movies can actually claim. Secondly, although the jokes and plot (Average Joe boy falls for amazing girl, problems, problems, problems, happily ever after) have all been done before, at least here I actually gave a damn about the relationship and the two individuals who create it. Cuthbert and Hirsch both give solid individual performances - admittedly not a huge stretch for the 19-year-old Hirsch or the 21-year-old Cuthbert, but their chemistry is excellent as well, and that makes half the movie work. I actually believed that these two people cared about each other, regardless of how quickly the events take place.
The other half of the movie is made by Timothy Olyphant (A Man Apart) as Kelly, Danielle’s former porn producer who is trying to get her back into the business. Olyphant struck me as some weird crossbreed between Billy Bob Thornton, Jim Carrey, and Johnny Knoxville – I know, I don’t know how that would ever happen either, but that’s the impression I got. The character is a jerk at best, but Olyphant is having fun switching between outwardly being an asshole and showing that the guy does actually like Danielle and Matthew, but that Number One comes first. He's fun to watch, and has many of the best lines in the script.
Director Luke Greenfield (The Animal) is competent, though nothing really special. What he gets credit for is how he handles the sections involving porn. He never shows it as the gritty, ugly business he could have; he treats it with a certain amount of respect for the people involved. That Danielle spends the entire movie trying to get away grates against this image a bit, but her opinion of a “better life” doesn’t necessarily represent that of every person in the industry. Kelly treats her like crap throughout the movie, so that may be considered the force that is making her think twice.
Also commendable is the soundtrack, though after looking at the track list on Amazon.com, it’s unfortunate to see that the two songs that made my ears perk up (Queen & David Bowie’s “Under Pressure” and a song by the late Elliot Smith) are not on the album. Even still, these and the rest of the music all fit nicely, and give a nice backdrop to the film.
There’s nothing serious in this movie. It’s pretty obviously taking tips from American Pie but it’s not trying to outdo the standard. What’s been created is a fun, fluffy movie with a silly gimmick, but the performances by the three leads are strong enough to hold it together. Bottom line, I spent a lot of the movie laughing, sometimes very, very hard. Also, to make a romantic comedy that actually has a good romance seems like it gets harder to do every day, but The Girl Next Door manages very well. Big things ahead for all three leads… lord knows the world can always use more of Elisha Cuthbert.
April 21, 2004; Loews Boston Common #9
* * * ¼ (out of four)
Okay. I admit it. I’m shallow. The first and foremost reason I went to see this movie is due to a cardboard standee advertising the movie in the theatre I work for in Maine. During slow times, employees – and I can’t say I’m not included in this – would spend minutes just staring at the damn thing, basically drooling over Elisha Cuthbert. When I finally saw a preview, I was relieved to see that it actually looks funny. And it is.
Emile Hirsch (The Emperor’s Club) is Matthew Kidman, high-achieving high school senior who is about the graduate and move onto Georgetown. Great for him, but despite being president of the student council and one of the most academically excellent students in school… he has no real memories of senior year. He hasn’t done anything exciting or noteworthy to make it a year worth remembering. His friends are unexciting, and while it bothers him, he just focuses on Georgetown, and shoves his discontent aside. Then Danielle (Elisha Cuthbert, of FOX TV’s 24) moves in next door. Stunningly gorgeous with no visible past, Matthew is instantly intrigued, and even more so when he discovers he can see into her bedroom from his window. A nice perk, until she catches him peeking. She comes over to confront him, and makes him play a little “show me yours, I’ll show you mine”… on her terms. They’re fast friends with obvious hints at more, and everything goes well until an unexpected visitor and a VHS tape reveal a little more about her past as a porn star than Matthew had bargained for. He then must decide what’s more important: ensuring himself a place at Georgetown by nailing a speech to win a scholarship, or pursuing the girl who, much to his pleasure, threatens to turn his whole life upside down.
Get something straight: this movie is frivolous fluff, and nothing more. While that usually wouldn’t fly with me, there are a few key differences between this and “normal” teen romantic comedies. First, all that fluff is done well, something few movies can actually claim. Secondly, although the jokes and plot (Average Joe boy falls for amazing girl, problems, problems, problems, happily ever after) have all been done before, at least here I actually gave a damn about the relationship and the two individuals who create it. Cuthbert and Hirsch both give solid individual performances - admittedly not a huge stretch for the 19-year-old Hirsch or the 21-year-old Cuthbert, but their chemistry is excellent as well, and that makes half the movie work. I actually believed that these two people cared about each other, regardless of how quickly the events take place.
The other half of the movie is made by Timothy Olyphant (A Man Apart) as Kelly, Danielle’s former porn producer who is trying to get her back into the business. Olyphant struck me as some weird crossbreed between Billy Bob Thornton, Jim Carrey, and Johnny Knoxville – I know, I don’t know how that would ever happen either, but that’s the impression I got. The character is a jerk at best, but Olyphant is having fun switching between outwardly being an asshole and showing that the guy does actually like Danielle and Matthew, but that Number One comes first. He's fun to watch, and has many of the best lines in the script.
Director Luke Greenfield (The Animal) is competent, though nothing really special. What he gets credit for is how he handles the sections involving porn. He never shows it as the gritty, ugly business he could have; he treats it with a certain amount of respect for the people involved. That Danielle spends the entire movie trying to get away grates against this image a bit, but her opinion of a “better life” doesn’t necessarily represent that of every person in the industry. Kelly treats her like crap throughout the movie, so that may be considered the force that is making her think twice.
Also commendable is the soundtrack, though after looking at the track list on Amazon.com, it’s unfortunate to see that the two songs that made my ears perk up (Queen & David Bowie’s “Under Pressure” and a song by the late Elliot Smith) are not on the album. Even still, these and the rest of the music all fit nicely, and give a nice backdrop to the film.
There’s nothing serious in this movie. It’s pretty obviously taking tips from American Pie but it’s not trying to outdo the standard. What’s been created is a fun, fluffy movie with a silly gimmick, but the performances by the three leads are strong enough to hold it together. Bottom line, I spent a lot of the movie laughing, sometimes very, very hard. Also, to make a romantic comedy that actually has a good romance seems like it gets harder to do every day, but The Girl Next Door manages very well. Big things ahead for all three leads… lord knows the world can always use more of Elisha Cuthbert.
posted by Matt S. at
2:42 AM
