pretty cheesy teen sex flick

Rating: 4/10 (5 July 2008)

'Risky Business' may develop a reputation like that of 'Easy Rider'- a good film that people come to wish had never been made because of all the cheesy imitations it spawned. Exhibit 273- 'The Girl Next Door,' yet another adolescent sex fantasy masquerading as a 'coming of age' film or something similarly high-minded. What are the ingredients? First, a teenage boy's wet dream come true, a drop-dead beautiful girl who takes an interest in him for no apparent good reason. In this case, she's an ex-porn star who moves in next door. Uh huh. Mix in the usual group of geeks, nerds, bullies and situations requiring a prurient spin on almost everything, the requisite wild parties and car rides, the late night dips in someone else's swimming pool and sexual escapades at the senior prom... you know the drill. 'The Girl Next Door' has a few ideas of its own, but not many good ones. The film thinks that by quickly disowning what are essentially soft-core porn scenes and suggestions by having one character or another disapprove of them, it's perfectly justified in showing them in the first place. This is the equivalent of showing a bunch of teenagers a skin flick and then saying, "that's what you shouldn't do." As though that's the lesson they'll draw from it. Elisha Cuthbert plays the title character, Danielle; in appearance, she's sort of a cross between Debbie Harry and Cameron Diaz. Emile Hirsch is the teenager in question. They both give likable enough performances, considering the circumstances, but they are dragged through teen-flick cliché after teen-flick cliché. The initial attraction, the misunderstanding, the falling out... the scenes where she tells him to just leave her alone, the reconciliation. Strictly paint-by-the-numbers stuff. And actually, while Cuthbert is on screen a lot, she doesn't have much to do in the second half. At least it seems that way. Maybe she just doesn't have anything interesting to do. The less said about the supporting players, the better, except one character type I am REALLY getting tired of, and that's the wise-ass best friend who acts as though he knows the ways of the world and is always offering inane advice. If nothing else, it all makes you realize how well-made a film 'Risky Business' was. But that movie had a real script, and two real actors- Tom Cruise and Rebecca De Mornay. There was a fair amount of titillation in 'Risky Business' too. I would say the distinction between it and what we see in 'The Girl Next Door' is fairly obvious. To be fair, 'The Girl Next Door' isn't the worst of these kind of flicks. There are some funny bits here and there; Timothy Olyphant as a Fonzie-ish porn producer almost succeeds in making his a real character, and has some funny lines. But to say this film doesn't quite rank with the dregs of teen sex comedies is definitely damning it with faint praise.