For entertainment purposes only

Rating: 7/10 (26 September 2011)

The Girl Next Door is one of the most unrealistic movies I've ever seen. It's less realistic than The Exorcist and it makes less sense than Yellow Submarine. Once I got past that though - and it took some effort - and tried to enjoy it for what it is, I found out it's not a bad movie, either.
Even when it tries to pretend to have a message or a point, and it unfortunately does, The Girl Next Door should be taken for entertainment purposes only, and as such, it's pretty entertaining. It's never laugh out loud funny, but it has some humorous moments, some good acting (no, not Elisha Cuthbert... but Tim Olyphant is great, and young Emile Hirsch already shows some talent) and surprisingly, the humor is much less broad and crude than most other teen comedies of its time. In fact, The Girl Next Door, shockingly, is almost family friendly, and its overall attitude is more positive and idealistic than you would possibly imagine. Not that anyone would want to watch it with their family, mind you. The movie has a pretty limited appeal - it probably won't be that attractive to anyone but the 15-21 year old male demographic. But you shouldn't be concerned if your kids watch this, either. The Girl Next Door is one of the more conservative, cheerful, feel good comedies of the 00's.