not even a little bit funny

Rating: 4/10 (10 September 2004)

In one of the scenes that pretends to be funny in this film the main male character is punished to run naked after the car drove by the main female character. 'It's not funny' he complains. 'It's a little bit funny' she answers. Talking about the film, he is the one to be right!
'The Girl Next Door' is an unpleasant mix of teenage comedy, moralizing story and social comment about the porn industry. It takes a good director to mix these themes in a good film, and this movie did not get one. The script bares much guilt as it is never comic enough, sharp enough, crazy enough or credible enough to have the viewer path the threshold of 'so what'?'. Acting does not help either. We never get to care about the characters, they do not succeed to make us love or hate them. I liked Elisha Cuthberg in '24' - one of the best series of the latest years in American TV - but she does not hold the capabilities or she did not enjoy the hand of a good director to turn the role into something to remember. All male teen actors are directed in a way that makes them look unfit for life and screen. The better acted parts are the two supporting roles of the porn moguls, but this is not enough.
'Euro-Trip' proved this year that there is a chance for the teenage comedy genre. With 'Girl Next Door' we are back to the moralistic view of the world. Trying to sell the 'human side' of the pornography world in a teenage comedy with 'moral fiber' (another quote from the film) takes much more talent. This film lacks it. 4 out of 10 on my personal scale.