We've seen this before

Rating: 5/10 (13 October 2004)

'Girl' follows the story of one Matthew Kidman (Emile Hirsch) as he encounters new girl next door Danielle (24's Elisha Cuthbert) and gets involved in her life. Turns out she's a porn star, which Matt's friend Eli (Chris Marquette) lets him in on. So naturally the movie takes several zany twists and turns, from the kids going to Vegas to stalk Danielle at a porn movie convention to Matt getting mixed up with Danielle's dangerous manager, Kelly (Timothy Olyphant). There are enough twists and turns to keep things lively, and enough laughs to entertain most of the time.
Hirsch is effective as Matt; he plays his innocence well, and has enough young boy charm and good looks to win the viewer over. Cuthbert, resembling here a sexier, more beautiful version of a young Debby Harry, is also fairly good, switching back and forth between normal girl and porn star fairly well. Most of the supporting cast is fine; Olyphant is particularly sharp, and I enjoyed Marquette, but that's probably because he reminded me of a smart ass I knew in high school (he even looked like him). In fact, overall, the film is reasonably entertaining.
There's just one catch; you've seen this movie before, and it was called Risky Business. Virtually everything is the same; the hooker is now a porn star, and we're freeing a Vietnamese genius student rather than repairing daddy's Porsche, but in essence the movie is exactly the same, from the young guy falling for a much more experienced partner to the menacing manager (Olyphant was good, but he's no Joe Pants) even to the very way they choose to absolve the main character's debt. The movie follows Risky Business page for page, even closely substituting the obscene catch phrase with one very similar to it. In some respects this film exceeds its source material  Elisha Cuthbert is far better than Rebecca De Mornay, whom I never really thought was any good in the first place  but Hirsch is no Tom Cruise, and in the end, you're just basically getting the same story with some of the rougher edges sanded down told to a new generation. Worth looking at if you don't mind that, but be aware that's exactly what you're getting.