Review of Beautiful Girls (1996) by John O — 03 Jan 2009

One of my favorite movies of the 1990's. Tim Hutton comes home from New York to the snowy New England town he grew up in, reunites with his old friends for his high school reunion, meets 13 year old Natalie Portman, some lessons about life and love are exchanged, and it all turns out all warm and satisfying.

Seeing this movie a decade later, its flaws are now more apparent: the patter is too snappy with everyone having just the perfect comeback, many of the subplots have resolutions telegraphed half the movie away, Uma Thurman enters the movie as a blonde bombshell/plot device then abruptly disappears in the third act, and even its ace-in-the-hole set pieces like the Hutton/Portman "Pooh" moment during her ice skating haven't aged as well.

Also, that infamous Rosie O'Donnell monologue remains shrill and intolerable. Still, Beautiful Girls perfectly captures living in a wintery New England town. The camadaderie between Hutton, Matt Dillon, Michael Rappaport et al feels genuine.

It's got a lot of heart and sweetness, and men haven't changed all that much ten years later so the observations about what men want (and fear) in women are still relevant. I still love this movie.

It's a keeper.