Review of The Dead Girl (2006) by Chads. — 15 May 2007
The title, as we soon learn, is metaphorical as well as literal. There's more than one dead girl in "The Dead Girl". Six or seven, actually; more than one per chapter in some cases. During the first story, we can see that Arden's mother(Piper Laurie, reviving the role she played in "Carrie") murdered her daughter(Toni Collette) a long time ago.
Next up is Leah(Rose Byrne), a coroner-in-training, who(along with her mother) died the day her younger sister went missing. She'd rather hang out with corpses than with James Franco. Both women are on the verge of being reborn when it's thought that the "Jane Doe" Leah is working on might be their missing family member.
"The Dead Girl" is not so much a downer, but it can be sobering, especially the final story; the story of the "dead girl", who ironically, turns out to be the most alive girl in the story.
Krista(Brittany Murphy) had a hard-knock life, but she was, as they say, making lemonade out of lemons. Murphy is fierce. She really loved Rosetta(Kerry Washington). In life, Ruth(Mary Beth Hurt, from the chapter "The Wife"), stuck with her scumbag of a husband(Nick Searcy), is dying the slow death of an underappreciated housewife.
"The Dead Girl" is always intelligent, always dead-on about the facts of life...and death.
This review of The Dead Girl (2006) was written by Chads. on 15 May 2007.
The Dead Girl has generally received positive reviews.
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