The Girl Next Door User Reviews

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Saturday 24th June 2012 was a strange day to be me. A modest day in jolly old England with nothing to do but watch films and television. Only problem with the television is it was marred by the sheer mundane contribution of sports and football...... My bad, soccer. I just remembered that this site is mostly full of Americans.

So the day drew on in to the early hours of the 25th and i turn over to BBC1. It just so happened to be screening this film, much to my delight. I seen this film a good 5 maybe even 6 years ago, and I hadn't seen it since. I forgot about it. I dunno why, maybe I was bucking down with my studies and setting myself up for my future and blah blah blah.

Anyways, where was I?

Ahh yes. The film opens with Emile Hirsch sitting in front of a college year book with a bemused/perplexed look on his face, struggling to find the words to fill in the blank pages of his book. He lacks the experiences which everyone else has endured thanks to his hard work of raising money for a Cambodian genius, and also studying for his university scholarship. So granted, his schooling life doesn't seem very eventful. Hirsch and his cohorts are almost reminiscent of the cast from the British comedy series, the inbetweeners. You know, he gives off the impression of being neither in the "cool club" or the "nerd camp." He is comfortably sitting in-between the two stereotypes.

He just needs something to spice things up in his life.

Enter Danielle, played magnificently by Elisha Cuthbert. Probably my real first celebrity crush. She is the person Emile's character needed. Fiery, fierce and spontaneous with a past she is trying to escape from. And Elisha really does give me the impression that she is carrying a lot of weight on her shoulders. Every time she smiled during the early acts it seemed painful in some way, as if it's strained and over used. I dunno, some of you may get what I'm driving at. Others might not have a clue.

And i won't give too much of the game away, her past is well worth remained buried and left behind her. That is until Emile's character finds out who she really is/was, that to me was the explosion of the film after the scene in the motel. After that we are introduced to Kelly, played intensely by Timothy Olyphant. Lets just refer to him as the dark cloud for now.

The dark cloud basically gets Danielle back in to her old habits, much to her dismay. And once again she comes across like a bird of paradise trapped in a cage, It's the only way i can really describe her at this point. She's once again back at square 1 doing the one thing she has been trying hard to put behind her. But Emile, sort of like a love sick puppy at this point, comes in with his two cohorts to save the damsel in distress. And yeah, he does kind of.... sort of..... fails (spoilers.) But all is much better in the morning. Danielle decides Matthew is right.... Oh, Emile Hirsch plays Matthew. Just to clarify.

So she returns to the house next door and all is well.

That is until our dark cloud returns. That's when we get a hint of just how much of a sinister character Kelly is. A man who is very unforgiving when it comes down to his business being messed around with. I mean, the guy practically kidnaps Matthew in the middle of a school day, drives him to his to the middle of nowhere and give Matthew an ultimatum. Matthew can either pay back the $30,000 loss Kelly has suffered, or give him a.... Blow job. To be as blunt as a sledge hammer.

Luckily that latter part was a joke, both burst out in laughter and BOOM! Right from no where Kelly just goes bezerek

and attacks little Matthew. That is when we truly realize that Kelly doesn't really have any qualms of beating a kid up. More to the point, drugging him with ecstasy, convincing Mat to break in to his rivals home and steal an award Kelly feels he should of won. Before sneaking back out of the house and phoning the cops on the guy. Kelly is a scary genius.

He also had to go through his scholarship presentation speech whilst high on E, which the entire scene was executed and performed extremely well. And i won't reveal too much on that scene as well, It amounts to something of a "Ahhh, to hell with it" U turn within Matthew.

But Kelly now adds more pressure on Matthew on the following day by emptying out the money (A near $25,000) Matthew has been saving up for his Cambodian friend. Money that in retrospective sense, wasn't his. He has to pay back the bank in full within a few days or risk having the police involved.

Wait, Sorry. I'm so excited that i have rediscovered this film that I'm not reviewing it in sense. I'm telling you the short and narrow version.

Anyways, the acting of this film is exemplary. Fresh faces being drafted to flex their capabilities, one of which is the guy who plays Eli. The young cinematographer and director in the making. The young man who plays the more cautious and reserved one of the group, Klits, does well at playing the part who is suffering the angst and depression that is.... Puberty. His confidence isn't really his strongest point, however. Get him to drink a few martinis and he develops quite a fruitful personality and can be rather slick and smooth tonged, booze makes him more daring. Such is the way of things for booze I'm afraid.

And of course, the film is laid with stereotypical parents, Over conservative teaches and melon headed American jock types. But these are small nit picks for a film that ultimately gives out the message of what moral fiber is and how to be a good person. Sure, there are some cathartic moments and plot holes. I reckon it went against everything Kelly was when he turned around and said he was joking about the blow job. I'm not saying it's something that should be seen, it's just that Kelly comes across as a sexually liberated kind of guy but also a very hard stone as well. His joke went against his personality and that sort of made me question Kelly, he no longer was the wise ass hard nut. But just a sly dick who is in things for his own gain.

This film is a fantastic relief from all those American pie comedies. The girl next door does come across like an American pie film, but i tell you, it kicks those notions out of the window. It is its own film, it felt fresh from the over the top profanities that plague other films of this genre. It also has one of the best (And I'm being serious here, so no laughing.) sex scenes I have seen in a long time. Passionate. Less is more sort of thing. I believe that sex scenes are at their best with out the need of ripping each others cloths off. Dirty dancing weighs to my favor on this one.

Go and see, it's fresh beat and mellow moments can be quite captivating if you open yourself enough. It makes you wish and pray for the day that you move in to a neighborhood which has THAT girl next door.