The Girl Next Door (2004)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Luke Greenfield

Writers (WGA):

David Wagner (story) &
Brent Goldberg (story) ...

Release Date:

27 March 2004 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

Matt never saw her coming... but all his friends had!

Plot:

A teenager's dreams come true when a former porn star moves in next door and they fall in love.

Plot Keywords:

Sex Comedy | Prom | Actress Breaking Typecast | Teen Sex Comedy | Public Nudity

Awards:

4 nominations

Cast

Emile Hirsch	...	Matthew Kidman
Elisha Cuthbert	...	Danielle
Timothy Olyphant	...	Kelly
James Remar	...	Hugo Posh
Chris Marquette	...	Eli
Paul Dano	...	Klitz
Timothy Bottoms	...	Mr. Kidman
Donna Bullock	...	Mrs. Kidman
Jacob Young	...	Hunter
Brian Kolodziej	...	Derek
Brandon Irons	...	Troy
Amanda Swisten	...	April
Sung Hi Lee	...	Ferrari
Ulysses Lee	...	Samnang
Harris Laskaway	...	Dr. Salinger (as Harris Laskawy)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong sexual content, language and some drug/alcohol use.

Runtime:

109 min | USA:110 min (unrated version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:12 (video rating) | Iceland:L | Portugal:M/16 | South Korea:18 | Argentina:16 | Australia:MA | Brazil:14 | Canada:14A (Ontario) | Canada:18A | Chile:14 | Czech Republic:12 | Finland:K-15 | Germany:12 | Ireland:18 | Malaysia:(Banned) | Netherlands:12 | New Zealand:R16 | Norway:15 | Peru:14 | Singapore:R(A) (original rating) (cut) | Singapore:R21 (re-rating) | Spain:18 | Sweden:11 | UK:15 | USA:R (certificate #40269) | USA:Unrated (unrated DVD version)

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Regency Enterprises

Trivia:

The prom in the film takes place in the cafeteria, the same way the director's was.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: Danielle's car has blue background/gold lettered California license plates. California stopped making the blue/gold plates in the early 1980s. Her new style Beetle has to be a 1998 or newer. The only way a car that new can have the blue/gold plates is if they are personalized plates which go with the owner. The plates on Danielle's car are not personalized with a special word.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Woman: [voiceover] How do you want me?
Man: Oh, that's good. Yeah. Just, uh... just get comfortable.
Woman: I'm a little nervous.
Man: Nah, you're doing great.

Movie Connections:

References Jerry Maguire (1996)

Soundtrack:

SLAYED

Definitely Not Another Teen Movie

In a world wrought with unoriginal and humor-lacking teen movies, The Girl Next Door provides a beacon of light. The director's hardest battle was to insure that although 90% of the cast are teenagers, that this movie should not be labeled as a teen comedy.

The first comparison that should be made between your average Hollywood teen offering and this movie is the humor. Some movies (American Pie 1, Road Trip) are genuinely funny…, but in a slapstick way. The Girl Next Door provides more intelligent jokes (Eli saying that Matthews's motel advances towards Danielle was a little forthcoming, for instance).

Even after this fact is acknowledged, it is still tempting to accuse The Girl Next Door of being a teen movie, but suddenly the thought springs to mind…. "Hang on…; did that movie have a story line?" And the answer is of course "too right it did". The story line revolves around a life changing loss of innocence for: primarily, Matthew and Danielle, and secondarily: Eli and Klits.

Matthew starts the movie in a tether of his scholarship acquirement's, he spends hours studying and speech revising…. enter Danielle, in the space of 2 weeks she turns Matthew from a text book geek, into the king of the school (I refer of course to his control over the jocks on prom night.). Danielle, for all her real world experience, is an emotional black hole. Matthew, in the movie breaks threw this, and Danielle "makes love" for the first time.

Eli, the local porn king, thinks he (sexually) knows it all, however, even the slightest sexual conduct, and he turns and runs (i.e. the porn star asking Eli/Klitz to feel his girlfriends breasts). Klitz, like Matthew, is a text book nerd and lacks any confidence in his appearance, what so ever. With the help of April, he breaks through this, gaining a silent reputation for the prominence of his manhood.

So let's compare these major story lines to some admitted teen movies. American Pie 2: The story line (singular) in this story is to go on vacation and get laid. WOW. Not exactly a feast for the thought. Road Trip: This time round the storyline (singular) is that a guy suddenly realizes that his pen pal is a girl and sets of on a several thousand mile trip to profess his undying love….. Rubbish.

One similarity I am happy to point out between this work and the self-proclaimed teen movies, is that it has an excellent sound track. A few examples of the excellent choices in music would be David Gray's This Years Loving. This song perfectly matched the budding affections of Danielle and Matthew, both while they share their first kiss, and when there have sex for the first time. On a smaller scale Lapdance by NERD, perfectly captures the moment when the new and improved Matthew, strolls into the Prom and officially becomes the Godfather of the school. On the topic of the sound track, I could go on for pages, so ill just stop that now.

The best movie to compare this piece to is Risky Business. You've all seen it I'm sure. The academically perfect Tom Cruise's parents do away for the weekend…. And Cruise erupts. Going wild for the weekend, he dance around the house, pants-less (easily one of the most famous scenes in movie history) and more importantly (from a story line point of view), meets and falls in love with hooker Lana (Rebecca De Mornay). On comparison I preferred The Girl Next Door. The relationship between Hirsh/Cuthbert is far more convincing then that of Cruise/De Mornay, and more importantly, there was no real foundation for the change in Cruises character, whereas Matthew is forced out of his shell by the life-of-fun character of Danielle.

Unfortunately, Risky Business is unshakable from it pillar as one of the best movies ever. But the Girl Next Door deserves to stand right up there beside is it.

If you haven't seen this movie but have read this…. sorry…., but go get the movie anyway, trust me, i didn't talk about, about 90% of the content of this masterpiece. If you have seen it, then I hope you agree with my synopsis.

This movie is worthy of much more recognition then it is currently receiving. And ill bet that the reason is in the first eleven words of this review.