Title: The Girl Next Door
Genre: Comedy / Teen
Certificate: 15
Starring: Emile Hirsch, Elisha Cuthbert, Timothy Olyphant, James Remar
Runtime: 100 minutes
Aimee's Runtime Key: A nice Quickie

*** Plot ***

Guys imagine the scene. You're in high school and you're known as one of the school nerds. You don't do anything spontaneous or anything considered to be fun. Your life pretty much sucks. That is until one day you get home and find that the most gorgeous girl in the world has somehow appeared to be living next door, oh and she's a porn star.

Well that's what happens to Matthew Kidman only he doesn't know she's a pornstar at first, but just how long can one keep that kind of secret? Especially when your best friend is a porn addict?

The girl next door tells the story of falling in love despite the consequences and the fun that comes along with it.

*** What I thought About... ***

1) The film in general.

I've wanted to see this for quite a while now but I had a hard job convincing my fiance that he would enjoy it too. The plotline itself didn't really appeal to me when I read about it, but the trailers I watched really did look funny so after a few weeks persuasion I managed to get my fiance to agree to rent it out and funnily enough I think he enjoyed it more than I did! It was very funny, a really enjoyable watch that wasn't on for too long and it was easy going too so didn't require a lot of concentration to understand what was going on.

2) The storyline.

As I mentioned earlier, after I'd read what the film was about, it didn't really grab my attention and make me think 'I've definitely got to see this'. However, after watching the film I realized that the plotline was quite good. It seems to me that there's a hidden message in the film that porn stars have feelings too and they aren't always as we expect them to be. Now whether or not the producers actually wanted to put that message across or not is quite uncertain because of the audience it is aimed at. I doubt very much 15, 16 or even 17 year old guys are going to suddenly change their view on pornstars just because of this film so it's more than likely there is no hidden moral message and it's just meant to be fun.

Although the plotline is mainly 'guy falls in love with girl' and it seems quite soppy from it's description, this film is packed full of laughs. Right from the beginning it has funny scenes and for me one of the funniest is at the beginning. I didn't think there was too much nudity in it, not as much as other similar films such as 'American Pie'. Also I find when girls are naked in a film I just cannot watch. I get really uncomfortable so I was really relieved when there was very little nudity and if there was most of it was from the back and not the front although there are a couple of scenes where you see girls breasts but they aren't shown for long so it isn't too bad. Now I know the guys are probably sitting there moaning because they want to see more breasts and girl nudity but I think you'll just be happy enough with the girls themselves.

3) The enjoyability of the film.

This was definitely one of the best movies I've seen lately. It made me laugh almost all the way through and it had a sweet scene towards the end for all the romantics out there. I think the great thing was it wasn't as rude as american pie or films such as eurotrip or road trip for example. These films are mainly aimed at guys and I just didn't find them as good as this film. I feel it can be enjoyed by both girls and guys even though the porn stars will mainly interest the guys. The fact that it is easy to watch is great too. Sometimes I just don't feel like watching something heavy going so this made a nice change and it is a film that I could watch several times without getting bored.

4) Character Performances.

I've never heard of most of the cast before or seen them in anything that I can remember but I feel that the main characters Emile Hirsch and Elisha Cuthbert really shone in this film and the other cast members also did a great job.

Emile Hirsch hasn't starred in many films but some of the ones he has been in include 'The Dangerous Lives of Alter Boys', 'The Emperor's Club' and more recently 'Imaginary Heroes'. I'm not sure how good he is at playing other parts in films because I've never actually seen anything else that he's been in. However, his performance in 'The Girl Next Door' showed me that he is more than capable of making it in the world of acting. His performance was realistic. I've said this before and I'll say it again, Finch from American Pie is a great example of somebody who isn't too brilliant at staying in the part. He played a serious character but in various scenes you could always tell he was dying to laugh and he had a constant smirk on his face which shouldn't have been there. However with Emile he didn't falter once. He stayed in his character and delivered a really convincing performance. He's definitely an actor I will be looking out for in the future.

Elisha Cuthbert on the other hand has been in some successful films and has had a longer career than Emile. Although I haven't really heard much about her I have actually seen her in two films which I had no idea about. She was in 'Nico the Unicorn' and the most famous one for me 'Old School'. In this she played the lead part of 'Danielle' extremely well'. She was convincing and seemed comfortable in her role. There didn't seem to be much effort in her performance meaning she just seemed to slide right into the character without having to work at it. A talented actress who I'm sure will go far.

Timothy Olyphant is someone who I immediately recognized but I wasn't sure where I'd seen him. He has been in so many films but the one I'm more likely to know him from is probably 'Gone in 60 Seconds'. He's also starred in 'Head Over Heels', 'Scream 2' and 'DreamCatcher'. Again he played a convincing part and I loved his character. He plays Kelly, a director of the porn film industry and he employs Danielle. He plays quite a big role in the film and he is really funny to watch. He has a lot of charisma and he's a really talented actor.

James Remar played another director of the porn film industry and the rival to Kelly. He didn't have a huge part so I can't really say his acting skills were amazing because he didn't really show much of them. You may also know him from '2 fast 2 furious', 'Duplex' and more recently just coming onto our screens in 'Blade Trinity'. I did feel he was only in the film to add a well known name to the cast list. It was more like a guest appearance than a part in the film if that makes sense.

The last Actor I give credit to is Chris Marquette. I thought he was really funny and again very convincing as the joker in the film. He always came out with funny lines and me and my fiance always laughed when he was on the screen. He's a typical teenage boy who is addicted to porn and I feel most of the guys will be able to relate to him more than the main lead in the film. Something I didn't know was that he starred in the movie 'Freddie Vs Jason' and he's also been in 'Joan of Arcadia' which was brought out last year. He hasn't had the longest film career but I can see him appearing in many more comedies.

All in all I'd say the characters went really well together. There wasn't massive chemistry between Elisha and Emile but there was still enough there to pull the love story off. The chemistry between the three friends in the film was great and much more natural than the love connection in the film. The other actors and actresses in the film which I haven't mentioned also came across really well as dopey and funny and I feel that is what really made the film. Everyone seemed to really adapt to their roles and because of that I feel the film has been a success.

*** Would I recommend it? ***

I would recommend this to people although do bear in mind this is aimed at teens mainly so the older audience might not like it. Some people may see it as silly or too immature for them but for me I thought it was a really good easy watch. It wasn't too long so it was something that could be enjoyed in an evening even on a work night and it's also a film that you can enjoy with your partner. I loved cuddling up with my fiance while watching it and he loved it too. I really do think it's great that the film wasn't too seedy. With the theme of it, it could have been a lot more dirty and that would have put me off but I think Luke Greenfield really did this movie justice. Luke is fairly new to directing and this to me seems to be his main one. I feel that it was excellently done and it will have definitely gone in his favour and I'm sure he'll have a lot more job offers soon.

So if you are in the mood for something light, funny, short and sweet, this is definitely the movie for you!