Every schoolboy's dream

Written by David Wagner, Brent Goldberg and Stuart Blumberg, and directed by Luke Greenfield The Girl Next Door was released back in April 2004.

****Story line****

Matthew Kidman (Emile Hirsch) is a straight laced, straight A student who has been working hard in ensuring that he secures his place in a top academic university. Despite having a hidden desire to be reckless and wild he has always put his studies first although things may soon change.

Whilst his next-door neighbour is out of town for a few weeks her niece, Danielle Elisha Cuthbert) temporarily moves in to house sit. Matthew’s first sight of Danielle is every schoolboy’s dream and he is smitten, believing she is the one. Danielle and Matthew become friends and their relationship begins to flourish and the inevitable happens.

Eli (Chris Marquette) and Klitz (Paul Dano) discover something about Danielle’s past career that she has not told Matthew about and to make it worse Kelly (Timothy Olyphant), her old boss, arrives in town begging her to come back to work.

****My opinion****

My friends were raving on about this film for ages and kept recommending it so I was expecting a really good watch, instead all I got was a large disappointment. I found this film boring and was clock watching after less than half an hour and willing it to end, although I left it running in the hope that it would actually improve.

The story line is unique and I don’t think that the writers fully exploited this. There is so much that could have been done with the story but it wasn’t capitalised on and the end result is a great concept that is poorly executed and doesn’t really go anywhere.

The acting is ok but nothing to shout about, but then I guess that there is only so much that could have been done with the story. Elisha steals the show, but then given the supporting cast of ‘relative un-knowns’ this is to be expected. Throughout the film Elisa shows a naughty and mischievous side, which will appeal to the male viewers (well it did for me) but it doesn’t show any great acting talent.

This is definitely not a visual masterpiece and there are no memorable scenes or laugh out loud moments (although this is meant to be a comedy) that I can think of, which is bad considering there is usually something in every film regardless of how good or bad it is overall.

I can’t even think of any good one-liners although I do have a trio of mates that go out ‘on the prowl’ together that regularly refer to themselves as a ‘tri-pod’, a saying that was borne out of this film.

The best thing about this film is that it stars the gorgeous Elisha Cuthbert in some revealing (but tasteful) clothing that shows off her figure. Overall, it is a mediocre film and one that I would only recommend if there is absolutely nothing else to watch (which is hardly ever the case) or you are a teenage boy with a liking for Elisha.

****Other****

Run time – 109 minutes
Certificate – 15
4 award nominations

(This has been posted on other review sites under the name of Yackers1)