Review of The Girl Next Door (2004) by Joon L — 19 Mar 2012

One of the strongest teen comedies of the noughties, the girl next door isnt quite as raunchy or edgy as you'd hope, and if they'd pushed harder we'd have this generations risky business, however it's so sweet, funny and likable and it's strongest suit is how despite being undeniably (and pleasingly) crude and naughty it also deals with sex and teen horniness in an endearingly innocent way, nothing feels mean spirited as is so often the case with teen flicks of this kind which often border on misogyny in their attitude to such content and the female of the species generally.

But the girl next door is, despite it's rude and leery premise (geeky guy falls for girl, girl turns out to be porn star) just such a nice film, in it's nerd/unpopular underdog wish fuffiling feel good factor it reminds me of john hughes movies, that wide eyed innocence that almost feels outdated amongst the post american pie, gross out teen sex flick, it's just hugely good natured.

But thats not to say it isnt also a bit edgy, the girl turns out to be a porn star after all! elisha cuthbert brings a real sexuality to the role, becoming an eternal object of lust for a generation of young guys, she is truly smokingly gorgeous, but it's the underrated timothy olymphant who steals the film, playing a charming and cool but sleazy and dangerous porn producer villan, his scene with the very likable emile hirsch were they drive out to nowhere is truly unsettling and briefly swerves the film into shadier, unknown territory, what a great and undervalued actor, he deserves to be in more stuff like this, go and scream 2.

All in all a very strong little teen flick, funny, sexy, full of likable characters and relatable, and it also has a fantastic soundtrack.