Pornography - still the saviour of high school kids

Rating: 6/10 (22 September 2005)

Being a big horror fan, I spend a lot of my time watching what you might call 'wayward cinema' but, believe it or not, even the very worst of those films pale in comparison to this little teen flick when it comes to misplaced morality. Here, we have a film that not only shows high school kids in the middle of the porn industry, popping ecstasy pills, stealing things and just generally sticking two fingers up where the law is concerned; but it shows them doing this in a positive light, with a great big smile on it's face! However, I'm not one to complain about such things and, again; believe it or not - this is actually a damn good film! The skewed morality can be off-putting, but it's fairly obvious that this film is meant to be more of a spoof than a serious coming of age tale; so it's better to simply go with it rather than worry too much. The film is in the vein of American Pie, and it follows a young man who is lucky enough to have a porn star move in next door to him. After being caught spying on her undressing, she takes him for a ride and, as you might expect, the two hit it off instantly. However, being a porn star has it's drawbacks, and hers comes in the form of a nasty manager by the name of Kelly.
The plot of The Girl Next Door is entirely predictable, but there's always enough side stories and gags to ensure that the action always remains interesting. The film is never side-splittingly hilarious, but some of the sight gags are genuinely funny. Jokes involving a lap dance, and another that sees two high school kids pretending to be porn directors are the best among them. The soundtrack features a lot of good songs, but it can be annoying when they're being played over nearly every scene. One thing that worried me before seeing this film was Elisha Cuthbert. Like most people, I've been used to seeing her in the best American TV show of all time, 24, and didn't think that she'd be able to pull off the role of pornstar. She's a good-looking actress; but I wouldn't consider her to be 'sexy'. However, surprisingly enough she does really well in the role. Her co-star, Emile Hirsch, looks about ten; but he does a good job of getting the audience on his side, so even though it's impossible to believe that a sexy pornstar would go for him; he doesn't ruin the movie. On the whole, while this isn't anything like a great movie; it's a more than solid entry in the teen comedy sub-genre, and if you want a movie that will entertain for a couple of hours with caring about political correctness - this one should do it.