The Girl Next Door (2004)
Luke Greenfield directs Emile Hirsch, Elisha Cuthbert and Timothy Olyphant in this teen sex comedy where a prissy kid falls for his hot new neighbour only to discover she has previously embarked on a career in porn.
Risky Business updated for the pornstar era. At one point Tangerine Dream’s Love On a Real Train plays!! Then again… there are so many needle drops in this flick that it might be easier listing the songs not featured on the soundtrack. I’m not entirely sure director Greenfield needed to smother the movie quite so much in emotion stoking jukebox clips. The script is basically witty in a shotgun blast kinda way. Crude but good natured. And the support cast is pretty stacked. Olyphant is superb as the outwardly friendly but predatory suitcase pimp. The movie flags whenever his wild energy is sidelined. And you have James Remar and young Paul Dano floating about too. And yet… this was intended and sold as a vehicle for Kim from 24 to breakout from her hit TV series into movie stardom. And she very much gets lost in the mix during the second half. She never emerges as much more than a wet dream fantasy figure without much motivation or internal workings… and then feels extraneous to the busy plot while everyone else is shuffling about. If she wasn’t the biggest face on the poster, you’d forget it was ever her vehicle.
5
Perfect Double Bill: Miss March (2009)
I write regular features about live comedy for British Comedy Guide here https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/bobby_carroll/features/