A smart teen sex comedy?

Rating: 8/10 (12 February 2004)

Just saw The Girl Next Door in a preview screening in Toronto and it's a surprisingly smart and sensitive teen sex comedy. 24's Elisha Cuthbert is beautiful and almost nude but also subtle as Danielle, the ex-porn star who moves in next to Matthew (The Dangerous Life of Altar Boys' Emile Hirsch), a straight-arrow high school senior determined to live it up a little bit now that he's been accepted into Georgetown University. There's enough T&A to keep the frat boys entertained, but The Girl Next Door, despite a couple of lapses in narrative logic, prevails thanks to the enthusiasm of its leads and a remarkably candid approach to sex not mired in heavy-handed moralism, a condition prevalent in these post-Janet Jackson/Boobgate times. Kudos to Timothy Olyphant as Danielle's alternately charming and menacing porn producer.