The Girl Next Door Movie Review:


Matthew Kidman (Hirsch) is the perfect student and on the verge of his graduation he looks back at his life in High School and realises that even with all his academic success, he has really done anything. His all changes when Danielle (Cuthbert) moves in next door. Matthew has never seen anyone as beautiful as this girl and after an unfortunate but slightly funny first meeting, he actually starts to hit it off with her. Everything is going great until his best friend Eli (Marquette) plays him a videotape with his new girlfriend as the star but this isn’t your ordinary movie, Danielle is a porn star.

A film about a boy falling in love with a porn star has teen gross-out comedy written all over it but The Girl Next Door is something different as it actually has a story.

Having more in common with the teen flicks of the 80s like Risky Business and anything by John Hughes, this is a well-written sex comedy that has a running plotline instead of an excuse to connect a collection of comedic set pieces together. This is refreshingly different for an American teen comedy and makes for better, more entertaining viewing.

As well as the good script, what makes it so enjoyable are the performances from the cast. There are no real big stars here to grab all the limelight so it becomes quite a good ensemble piece. Chris Marquette provides most of the laughs as aspiring movie director and porn junkie Eli. Paul Dano is good as geeky Klitz, who discovers a new zest for life and a gift that he never new he had. Timothy Olyphant plays porn producer Kelly with just the right amount of coolness and menace. Amanda Swisten and Sung Hi Lee are the perfect porn stars, beautiful, unashamed and not that bright.

Emile Hirsch gets a chance to shine as goody two shoes Matthew. The character is the definition of the A grade pupil who hasn’t had a life because of his studies but it is his transformation from nerd to dude that makes the movie work so well. He doesn’t forgo his intelligence just to fit in he just uses it to better serve his popularity. Hirsch does really well in the role, as he just looks geeky enough to pass as the school swot but he isn’t too geeky as to the point that the chances of him attracting someone like Danielle are not an extreme impossibility.

Elisha Cuthbert is the shining light of the movie however. Fans of TVs “24” will know that the actress has some acting ability, even though the scripts in the programme don’t always give her the best storylines, but her role in this movie should bring her to everyone’s attention. She looks absolutely stunning throughout, oozing sex appeal every time she graces the screen. The good news is that the character of Danielle also gives her the chance to be more than just eye candy, by playing the role as a girl who just needs someone to see her and not just her body.

With a message of embracing life and not been scared of it, The Girl Next Door harks back to a golden era of teen comedies. Yes it does get abit sloppy at the end of the second act but the finale has a good twist with the laughs coming thick and fast. It might be every teenagers fantasy come true but it is not outrageous enough to be too far fetched, which makes the movie all the more enjoyable. Oh and Elisha Cuthbert is gorgeous.

Star Rating = * * *

Jamie Kelwick

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Quite often, good movies are born from an interesting pairing of opposites. Sometimes, it's the quirky chemistry generated by two actors with opposing styles; sometimes it's the pairing of two characters with vastly differing backgrounds. The main ingredient that made “Analyze This” so endearing to a legion of fans was the notion that a mob boss would ever need the services of a psychiatrist. With “The Girl Next Door,” it's the unlikely pairing of a goody-goody, high school honor student with a former porn star that provides a charming yet sexy appeal to an otherwise run-of-the-mill romantic comedy.

Emile Hirsch is Matthew, an overly ambitious high school senior on the brink of graduation. With aspirations to go to college, and an invitation to attend Georgetown, Matthew muddles through his final days of high school, realizing that he hasn't really done anything to have fun. Enter Danielle (Elisha Cuthbert), who's house-sitting for her aunt. She's the same age as Matthew, and her bedroom is directly across from Mathew's. Oh, did I mention that Danielle's not too bad on the eyes? And did I bring up the fact that Matthew gets a glance of Danielle through her window as she undresses for the evening? This chance encounter sets into motion a relationship which proves to be not only Matthew's coming of age, but also the fun that was missing from his senior year.

Matthew's sex-obsessed friend Eli (Chris Marquette) informs him that Danielle has a less than stellar past. Although she did tell Matthew she recently quit her job to get a fresh start, she failed to mention her past as Athena, a burgeoning new hard-core porn star. Upon this discovery, Matthew is crushed and acts upon Eli's advice to take Danielle to a cheap motel where she soon discovers her secret is out. It is, at first, a bit hard to imagine Elisha Cuthbert in the role of a porn star (not that I know what one looks like). Her youthful good looks and childlike charm seem too innocent and pristine for a role of such "seasoning." But as we see her in action at an adult film convention in Las Vegas, we quickly learn that angelic looks can be deceiving. Also sullying her youthful exuberance is her relationship with Kelly (Timothy Olyphant), an adult film producer with aspirations of getting her back in the business. The story actually takes a pleasant turn upon the introduction of Olyphant's character. Keeping things from becoming too sweet and comfortable, Kelly's edgy saltiness contributes to the film's R rating and gives it a wacky tinge of sexuality.

The last half of the film involves Matthew's attempts to pull Danielle back from the porn industry and into his life. Along the way we learn of a hilarious little prank. Concocted by Matthew and his sidekicks Eli and Klitz (Paul Dano), it kept the audience at the screening I attended in stitches. While made up of mostly 30 and 40-somethings, surprisingly, this particular audience laughed a lot and in all the right places. Credit goes to director Luke Greenfield and screenwriters David Wagner and Brent Goldberg for spicing up the typically formulaic teen romantic comedy with slapstick antics and fantasy sequences that never seem corny or juvenile. “The Girl Next Door” is funny without resorting to gross-out humor; it's smart but doesn't take itself too seriously; and it's sexy but doesn't include enough nudity to offend anyone.

Attention all teen romantic comedy films! You've just been one-upped.

Frank Wilkins

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