Girl Next Door

A mixed bag, this is a story of a high school senior Matt (Emile Hirsch), who’s on the verge of getting a choice scholarship to Georgetown University - and the lovely young lady who moves in next door, who happens to be a porn star.

It’s every boy-on-the-verge-of-becoming-a-man’s dream. Danielle (Elisha Cuthbert) is stunning, charming, personable, and she likes Matt. But can she reconcile her past - which is always pulling her back - with his present?

At alternate times, I laughed VERY hard and cringed even harder. See, the problem is in the pacing - the director didn’t seem sure whether this was supposed to be a slapstick sex comedy or a more serious drama. And that’s a huge shame, because some of the scenes in this movie were fantastic, especially the denouement.

A huge plus is Cuthbert, who simply lights up every scene she’s in with seemingly effortless charisma. Every smile, every time she bit her upper lip, males everywhere got a little sweatier. She’s a real find; she has true screen presence.

But trust me when I say I really laughed hard several times during this movie. True,it had some twists that were thoroughly unnecessary (and that altered the tone considerably), but all in all this was a real treat.

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