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In "The Girl Next Door," an 18-year-old overachiever falls for the new girl next door, who - surprise! - turns out to be an ex-porn star.
This leering premise, the production notes solemnly explain, "could easily have been turned into a raucous teen comedy." But director Luke Greenfield was after bigger fish - something "heartfelt, edgy and a little bit scary."
So instead of an unpretentious sex farce, what we have here is a sex farce with artistic pretensions. The film is like a hooker dressed up as a lady:
It wants to pretend it has class.
The production notes don't single out "Risky Business," but the 1983 Tom Cruise comedy seem like what Greenfield had in mind. The hero's name is Matthew Kidman, which may be a bit of a joke.
Like Cruise's old character, Matthew is an ambitious straight arrow who comes unglued when circumstances and a pretty face conspire to upset his tidy world. Entranced by his neighbor, the winsome Danielle, Matthew finds himself drawn into some pretty risky business himself.
The riskiest thing about it is Kelly, a charming thug who used to be Danielle's producer.
Kelly is determined that Danielle should come back to the porn world. So to save her, Matthew must descend into that world himself.
Is this starting to sound intriguing? Maybe it is, but only in a totally cheesy way.
Director Greenfield (Rob Schneider's "The Animal") has said that the film is about "exploring life's wild side." But it's really about titillation - covered with a deadening veneer of high purpose.
Part of what's wrong is that Emile Hirsch, who plays Matthew, doesn't have the dynamism - the star power - to carry a movie. Hirsch ("The Emperor's Club") has the nerdiness of a top student, but it's harder to see where his ambition comes from.
That was never a problem with the turbo-charged Cruise in "Risky Business."
As Danielle, Elisha Cuthbert (TV's "24") is fine in the early scenes, when she's just supposed to look va-va-va-voom sexy. But later, when the mood turns grim and actual acting is called for, she doesn't always have it in her. Basically, Cuthbert can't stop twinkling.
There are, evidently, a lot of men who will pay for a hooker who looks like a lady. And there may be a lot of moviegoers who will pay to see a cheesy film that looks like something substantial.
So if you're already entranced by Cuthbert's alluring photo in the ads and you need a plausible excuse to see this film, you could go for Timothy Olyphant's performance as Kelly.
Kelly may only be a porn producer, but he carries himself with the confidence of a movie star. His viciousness at first seems like sunny self-assurance, and it's easy to understand why Emile goes along with him.
But when Kelly is crossed, he's brutal. And Olyphant ("Go") makes you believe in that side of him, too.
"Sometimes in life, if you wanna do something good, you gotta do something bad," Kelly instructs Emile.
And sometimes, when you want to make a "raucous teen comedy," you have to tell yourself that it's "heartfelt, edgy and a little bit scary."
Ÿ
ô½ Rated: R (for strong sexual content, language and some drug/alcohol use).
This leering premise, the production notes solemnly explain, "could easily have been turned into a raucous teen comedy." But director Luke Greenfield was after bigger fish - something "heartfelt, edgy and a little bit scary."
So instead of an unpretentious sex farce, what we have here is a sex farce with artistic pretensions. The film is like a hooker dressed up as a lady:
It wants to pretend it has class.
The production notes don't single out "Risky Business," but the 1983 Tom Cruise comedy seem like what Greenfield had in mind. The hero's name is Matthew Kidman, which may be a bit of a joke.
Like Cruise's old character, Matthew is an ambitious straight arrow who comes unglued when circumstances and a pretty face conspire to upset his tidy world. Entranced by his neighbor, the winsome Danielle, Matthew finds himself drawn into some pretty risky business himself.
The riskiest thing about it is Kelly, a charming thug who used to be Danielle's producer.
Kelly is determined that Danielle should come back to the porn world. So to save her, Matthew must descend into that world himself.
Is this starting to sound intriguing? Maybe it is, but only in a totally cheesy way.
Director Greenfield (Rob Schneider's "The Animal") has said that the film is about "exploring life's wild side." But it's really about titillation - covered with a deadening veneer of high purpose.
Part of what's wrong is that Emile Hirsch, who plays Matthew, doesn't have the dynamism - the star power - to carry a movie. Hirsch ("The Emperor's Club") has the nerdiness of a top student, but it's harder to see where his ambition comes from.
That was never a problem with the turbo-charged Cruise in "Risky Business."
As Danielle, Elisha Cuthbert (TV's "24") is fine in the early scenes, when she's just supposed to look va-va-va-voom sexy. But later, when the mood turns grim and actual acting is called for, she doesn't always have it in her. Basically, Cuthbert can't stop twinkling.
There are, evidently, a lot of men who will pay for a hooker who looks like a lady. And there may be a lot of moviegoers who will pay to see a cheesy film that looks like something substantial.
So if you're already entranced by Cuthbert's alluring photo in the ads and you need a plausible excuse to see this film, you could go for Timothy Olyphant's performance as Kelly.
Kelly may only be a porn producer, but he carries himself with the confidence of a movie star. His viciousness at first seems like sunny self-assurance, and it's easy to understand why Emile goes along with him.
But when Kelly is crossed, he's brutal. And Olyphant ("Go") makes you believe in that side of him, too.
"Sometimes in life, if you wanna do something good, you gotta do something bad," Kelly instructs Emile.
And sometimes, when you want to make a "raucous teen comedy," you have to tell yourself that it's "heartfelt, edgy and a little bit scary."
Ÿ
ô½ Rated: R (for strong sexual content, language and some drug/alcohol use).
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