The Girl Next Door (2004) DVD Reviews

Starring	Emile Hirsch, Elisha Cuthbert, Timothy Olyphant, Chris Marquette
Director	Luke Greenfield
Genres	Comedy, Romance

Critics' reviews (4) of The Girl Next Door
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Appearances are deceptive in more ways than one in this boisterous comedy from The Animal director Luke Greenfield. Conceived by the writers of Van Wilder: Party Liaison, Brent Goldberg and David T Wagner, the feature plays out its first half like a hackneyed “boy meets girl” yarn, as nerdy high school over-achiever Matthew Kidman (Emile Hirsch) falls for his gorgeous new neighbour (Elisha Cuthbert of TV's 24), only to discover she's a former porn star. It's cliché-ridden nonsense, but then in a welcome shift, teen fodder suddenly turns into Risky Business-style hilarity. As love-sick Matthew's life spirals out of control, the humour develops a sharper edge, and the deeper into disaster he gets, the funnier it becomes. By using the adult entertainment world as a source of cheeky laughs, the film-makers give the tale real colour, even if the industry mechanics they depict are more male fantasy than reality. With likeable performances adding to an overall sense of youthful vitality, the end result is an endearingly daft and airy romp.
- Radio Times
- Posted 29 Jan 2006
"...It's part RISKY BUSINESS, part WEIRD SCIENCE, part AMERICAN PIE with lots of other parts--particularly Elisha Cuthbert's..."
- Arena
- Posted 11 Mar 2005
Matthew Kidman (Hirsch) is a straight-A student, headed for Georgetown Univesity with dreams of a career in politics.... read more on Time Out
- Time Out
- Posted 04 Nov 2008
Most helpful members' reviews (3) of The Girl Next Door
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42 out of 55 people found this review helpful

5 if Elisha was naked... she is a porn star after all.

This movie would be much better if we saw Elisha Cuthbert's naked; she IS a porn star after all. As it stands though, it is almost the definition of a three-point-five star movie. That's saying, it has everything you knew it would have, which makes it very average - but it also throws up some bizarre new twists and turns to the genre, which at least makes it slightly unpredictable. The movie was long, and could have done with some heavy editing; many scenes were just space fillers - particularly filming the imagination of the main character. In an already long movie this was unnecessary. Also the main character; Matthew, is an adolescent 'boy'. Surely they could have chosen someone who looked less like the kid from the wonder years. The belief that Elisha would enjoy the contrast between the usual porn star industry men, and this little boy was a little far fetched, and I can almost guarantee that's why it's never happed. There is nice and then there is naive - he wasn't just a contrast, he was the complete opposite -- trying to hard to be cool, he looked like an insecure little brat - a teenager, not decisively nice at all, just too insecure to argue or defend himself -- definitely too limp wristed to ever pull a post porn star and protect her from the bad porno man. Saying that, it's really Elisha Cuthbert's movie, so he's only a minor inconvenience. Reading other reviews for this movie it seems unanymous - the tag line for this movie should be, 'it's not as bad as I thought'.
- - N Stafford from England
  - Posted 26 Apr 2005 16:46
24 out of 30 people found this review helpful

Better Than They Say

This film is far better than many of the others in the genre such as American Pie and Road Trip. The humour is darker and not as obvious which I thought added to the appeal. It is true, as many critics have said that the plot is a bit confused and the film is probably over long for one of its type but the two leads put in good performances although the show is probably stolen by (acting wise at least) Timothy Olyphant.

All in all this film has undeservedly failed to gain the reviews it deserves and is a much better Sunday afternoon film than American Pie and many of the others.
- - A customer from Oxford, England
  - Posted 04 Jun 2004 16:18
13 out of 20 people found this review helpful

Has everything!!!!

If you liked American Pie and the sort of teen humour, then you'll love this!!

It has so much more than that though, and combines two perfect lead roles with a witty script and some funny extras, to make this one of the best films I have watched.

I didn't expect too much from it, and thought it would just be about some guy head over heels with his next door neighbour. But it surprised me in that it had a good storyline to go along with it and the characters in the movie were excellent!!

I thought it was a bit of a guy film to start with, but it has a good modern day love story going on, is a good comedy, along with a good drama and I would highly recommend this to everyone.
- - Ian Ritchie from Aberdeen
  - Posted 18 Sep 2004 unknown
Most recent members' reviews (2) of The Girl Next Door
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1 out of 1 person found this review helpful

Gets better as it goes along.

Predictable start of boy meets girl, boy falls in love with girl, Boy finds out girl is porn star!!

As you would expect in any American teenage comedy the usual cliches are there: the hopeless geeks, the high school jocks and gorgeous girlfriends.

Each character is pitched just right, though they don't break any new ground.

This film really takes off in the second half, primarily with the introduction of the girl's male friend Kelly.

There are some memorable scenes, as well as the usual moral kitsch regarding fidelity.

Overall entertaining and worth a watch.
- - John Hamilton from Sheffield
  - Posted 07 Nov 2004 10:03
2 out of 3 people found this review helpful

A grower

When I first watched this I was outraged that it was effectively a remake of 'Risky Business', but without paying the dues.

However, given a second viewing, I realised that it does acknowledge it's eighties predecessor. On occasions, the music and dialogue are exactly the same as RB! Also, I don't seriously think you could make this film and expect viewers not to make the association.

While Marquette isn't a patch on Cruise, Cuthbert is believable where DeMornay sometimes faltered. This is surprising, given Cuthbert's more mainstream look. However, where it is a given in RB that a prostitute would want a 'way out', we're never sure why Cuthbert not only wants to quit the porn business, which her associates seem to love, but also to take on a rather dull boyfriend.

But this is really a minor point in an otherwise greatly enjoyable teen movie, and it's nice that it stays on the right side of absurdity (unlike the Pie films), yet maintains its bias towards a male audience.
- - otty81 from Devon
  - Posted 14 Oct 2004 20:43

42 out of 55 people found this review helpful

5 if Elisha was naked... she is a porn star after all.

This movie would be much better if we saw Elisha Cuthbert's naked; she IS a porn star after all. As it stands though, it is almost the definition of a three-point-five star movie. That's saying, it has everything you knew it would have, which makes it very average - but it also throws up some bizarre new twists and turns to the genre, which at least makes it slightly unpredictable. The movie was long, and could have done with some heavy editing; many scenes were just space fillers - particularly filming the imagination of the main character. In an already long movie this was unnecessary. Also the main character; Matthew, is an adolescent 'boy'. Surely they could have chosen someone who looked less like the kid from the wonder years. The belief that Elisha would enjoy the contrast between the usual porn star industry men, and this little boy was a little far fetched, and I can almost guarantee that's why it's never happed. There is nice and then there is naive - he wasn't just a contrast, he was the complete opposite -- trying to hard to be cool, he looked like an insecure little brat - a teenager, not decisively nice at all, just too insecure to argue or defend himself -- definitely too limp wristed to ever pull a post porn star and protect her from the bad porno man. Saying that, it's really Elisha Cuthbert's movie, so he's only a minor inconvenience. Reading other reviews for this movie it seems unanymous - the tag line for this movie should be, 'it's not as bad as I thought'.
- - N Stafford from England
  - Posted 26 Apr 2005 16:46
24 out of 30 people found this review helpful

Better Than They Say

This film is far better than many of the others in the genre such as American Pie and Road Trip. The humour is darker and not as obvious which I thought added to the appeal. It is true, as many critics have said that the plot is a bit confused and the film is probably over long for one of its type but the two leads put in good performances although the show is probably stolen by (acting wise at least) Timothy Olyphant.

All in all this film has undeservedly failed to gain the reviews it deserves and is a much better Sunday afternoon film than American Pie and many of the others.
- - A customer from Oxford, England
  - Posted 04 Jun 2004 16:18
13 out of 20 people found this review helpful

Has everything!!!!

If you liked American Pie and the sort of teen humour, then you'll love this!!

It has so much more than that though, and combines two perfect lead roles with a witty script and some funny extras, to make this one of the best films I have watched.

I didn't expect too much from it, and thought it would just be about some guy head over heels with his next door neighbour. But it surprised me in that it had a good storyline to go along with it and the characters in the movie were excellent!!

I thought it was a bit of a guy film to start with, but it has a good modern day love story going on, is a good comedy, along with a good drama and I would highly recommend this to everyone.
- - Ian Ritchie from Aberdeen
  - Posted 18 Sep 2004 unknown
13 out of 20 people found this review helpful

Amazing!

I loved this film, Its funny on so many different levels and very entertaining. You will not be disappointed if you rent this film!
- - DannyW from North Yorkshire
  - Posted 12 Aug 2004 21:44
11 out of 15 people found this review helpful

Pretty Good

This was a good film, although it took some strange and sometimes pretty pointless twists about half way through. More appealing to blokes than the usual "Chick Flicks", mainly due to the one-liners and obvious attractions of Elisha Cuthbert, this is a blend of Risky Business meets American Pie - not as good as either, but a watchable film. Anyone hoping for some grumble will be disappointed, as Elisha stays fully clothed throughout!
- - Thompsonic from Hertfordshire
  - Posted 02 Sep 2004 11:46
8 out of 12 people found this review helpful

A funny, romantic, teen comedy - probably better for us blokes!

Although my girlfriend did enjoy this film, there are a lot of attractive, young ladies who have a tendancy to bare flesh! But although there is quite a bit of that sort of thing, it is still a good story, with some good acting (I particularly thought Timothy Olyphant who played Lenny was good) and a funny script. Yes it's corny and highly unrealistic at times but overall, if you like mainstream teen / romantic / comedies then you'll probably enjoy it.
- - benspencer from Loughborough
  - Posted 14 Mar 2005 13:15
7 out of 10 people found this review helpful

Sooo bad.

Quite possibly one of the worst films I have ever seen. For some of the other reviewers to compare it to Risky Business - well, they must have rocks in their head. It's as if two different directors kept turning up on different days with totally different ideas of what this film was supposed to be. Yeah - the girls were hot, Sam Yung mildly amusing and the main protagonists sidekicks provided a little light relief but this film only gets one star - and thats only for Elisha Cuthbert (and mostly for her body!)
- - Andrew Gledhill from Finsbury Park
  - Posted 05 Oct 2004 10:26
5 out of 6 people found this review helpful

Disappointed with this offering

I must respectfully disagree with most of the glowing reviews for this film.

While I grant that it played with the traditional story arc of the standard teen comedy, with more twists and turns than usual, the film's inability to keep a consistent tone and its shockingly cringe-inducing 'tender moments' were enough to make all four people watching it with me seriously discuss abandoning it halfway through.

'Risky Business' this ain't.
- - Luke Robinson from London
  - Posted 14 Apr 2005 10:36
5 out of 7 people found this review helpful

Better than I expected

This was recomended to me and I thought what the heck, let's give it go. I'm glad I did as it turned out to be really good. That said, the first hour or so was very familiar in the been there done that before kind of sense, and you already know/predict what's going to happen. However, there's then a twist and the film picks up the pace again and leads you to an unexpected outcome. Very good viewing and thoroughly enjoyable.
- - Martin from St Helens, England
  - Posted 29 Sep 2004 19:27
5 out of 7 people found this review helpful

Amusing, Emotional and Likeable

At the outset this film looks a lot like it'll be another America Pie wannabe. Instead in amongst the humour it has a pretty fair run on the emotional side, drawing you into the characters and their relationship. When things go a bit wonky both leads manage to act out their vulnerable and hurt side with brilliant realism.

On two levels you'll be satisfied. It is a funny and entertaining movie, but at the same time you'll get attached to the characters and feel some of the emotions they do.

Worth watching.
- - phil4 from Wantage
  - Posted 09 Aug 2004 09:17

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Critics' reviews (4)
Appearances are deceptive in more ways than one in this boisterous comedy from The Animal director Luke Greenfield. Conceived by the writers of Van Wilder: Party Liaison, Brent Goldberg and David T Wagner, the feature plays out its first half like a hackneyed “boy meets girl” yarn, as nerdy high school over-achiever Matthew Kidman (Emile Hirsch) falls for his gorgeous new neighbour (Elisha Cuthbert of TV's 24), only to discover she's a former porn star. It's cliché-ridden nonsense, but then in a welcome shift, teen fodder suddenly turns into Risky Business-style hilarity. As love-sick Matthew's life spirals out of control, the humour develops a sharper edge, and the deeper into disaster he gets, the funnier it becomes. By using the adult entertainment world as a source of cheeky laughs, the film-makers give the tale real colour, even if the industry mechanics they depict are more male fantasy than reality. With likeable performances adding to an overall sense of youthful vitality, the end result is an endearingly daft and airy romp.
- Radio Times
- Posted 29 Jan 2006
"...It's part RISKY BUSINESS, part WEIRD SCIENCE, part AMERICAN PIE with lots of other parts--particularly Elisha Cuthbert's..."
- Arena
- Posted 11 Mar 2005
Matthew Kidman (Hirsch) is a straight-A student, headed for Georgetown Univesity with dreams of a career in politics.... read more on Time Out
- Time Out
- Posted 04 Nov 2008
Unpleasant little romantic comedy that displays the sweaty desperation of teen movies.
- Halliwell's Film Guide
- Posted 02 Mar 2006