An excellent moral play.

Rating: 8/10 (9 March 2004)

The Girl Next Door: This film is directed by Luke Greenfield (The Animal) and written by David Wagner and Brent Goldberg (Van Wilder). From that information you might assume that this film is a generic mainstream comedy, and in that assumption you would be wrong. The Girl Next Door is an offbeat Romantic Comedy that defies the very genre that it is marketed to. Emile Hirsch (The Emperor's Club) stars as Matthew Kidman, a straight A college bound student whose life is turned upside down when he meets the Girl Next Door in question, Danielle (Elisha Cuthbert). Danielle catches Matthew staring at her changing through a window, and in punishing him they become friends. However, Matthew's pornography obsessed friend Eli (Chris Marquette) informs him that Danielle has a sordid past as a porn star. It becomes Matthew's goal to convince her that she's better than the pornographic industry, much to the chagrin of her producer Kelly (Timothy Olymphant). The Girl Next Door is a delightful comedy with much more than just teen raunch gimmicks. In fact, this film may be more suitable to an adult audience, which will appreciate the film's finer points a great deal more. The movie is a great romantic comedy with its morals in the perfect place, and is highly recommended. I'm debating on either a 7.5 or an 8, but I'll leave it at ****1/2 (A-) (8/10) for now.