Review of All the Real Girls (2003) by Kieron C — 12 Jun 2007

Apart from a couple of delights in Elf and Bridge To Terabithia, Zooey Deschanel has spent most of her filmography as being the best thing in otherwise middling to poor features (Eulogy, The New Guy, Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy, etc.). That "All The Real Girls" can be added to that category is a real shame as Deschanel delivers a so-far career best performance; as vulnerable as she is visceral Deschanel is the star of the show here.

All The Real Girls, whilst beautifully photographed, unfortunately delves into various "indie film" stereotypes and draws some of the worst from each. The plot which focuses on the burgeoning romance between Paul Schneider's Paul, a womanizer, and Deschanel's Noel, an 18 year old who has just returned from boarding school and still a virgin, is intolerably inert in it's pacing. Quirky asides and dialogue are thrown in seemingly for their own sake and at one point or another each character has a cloying expository monologue which soon begins to grate.

Similarly whilst Deschanel is entirely believable and intense as the confused young lady, her surrounding cast seem content with acting through overly shaped eyebrows, bad hairstyles and unblinking gazes into the distance/at themselves in the mirror (a la the Sean Penn school of acting).

Despite it's flaws the film is not entirely devoid of merit. Paul's character development over the course of the film is an intelligent storyline which manages to steer the right side of Hollywood cliche and remains true to itself - indeed the plot is held together with honest integirty. Unfortunately despite Deschanel's efforts the film never threatens to equal more of the sum of it's parts . In a better film this could have been her breakthrough role - instead she'll have to keep hoping and praying that The Gospel According To Janis finally comes through or she may have to spend the rest of her career as "Mark Wahlberg's wife" (as in The Happening), and continue being the best thing in poor to middling films.