Wednesday 7 September 2005

The Girl Next Door (2004)

Is it possible for a movie to be both sleazy and sweet -- not very likely, but that is the case with this one.  It really shouldn't work given the rather dubious subject matter, but there is a likeable undercurrent.  Emile Hirsch plays a nerdy but high-achieving high school student who is wowed by the good-looker who is house-sitting next door, played by Elisha Cuthbert.  After she catches him watching her undress, she takes him for a ride and gets him to strip naked in the middle of the road as a kind of tit for tat (no pun intended) and then drives off.  It's that sort of movie.  His equally nerdy friends tell him that she is actually a porn actress (who we learn is trying to get out of the business) and the various bits of bad taste follow on.

Needless to say his puppy love for her overcomes all obstacles including financing his college years after he loses the scholarship he has been counting on.  I have no idea what age she was meant to be playing but it just had to be several years older than he, if only in terms of worldly experience; therefore her eager acceptance of his devotion did seem more than a little contrived, although very sweet I suppose.

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