"The Girl Next Door" tries to sell itself as a teen sex romp. Vying for the "American Pie" audience, it puts loads of Elisha Cuthbert cleavage in every trailer and television spot. And to an extent, the ads are true to the movie. There's nudity and sophomoric humor in the film, but it turns out that "Girl" is much more than that. And while I'm sure the ads will attract an audience of Seann William Scott lovers (or Vin Diesel lovers; I think they're the same people), I'm afraid many will miss out.
You see, "Girl" is one of the funniest movies of the last few years, and you don't have to be male, 16 and obsessed with E! Channel's "Wild On" to love the jokes.
Matthew (Emile Hirsch) is an overachieving high school senior who is afraid to take chances, and Danielle (Cuthbert) is the porn star who moves in next door. Naturally, they fall in love. But this is all in the first few minutes. The second act involves Matthew and his horny buddies getting caught up with the porn industry mafia because they were trying to get Danielle out of the business. Then, there's a third act about going to prom and getting kicked out of school. It's really quite the epic journey for young Matthew, as he learns life lessons or some shit.
With a plot like this, I would expect terrible results. But that's not the case. The jokes almost always work, and the young actors really show chops that reach far beyond those of Chris Klein and Jason Biggs. They also actually look like high school kids. Strange.
While the teen comedy genre is getting a bit tired, "Girl" has an energy and a willingness to take chances that recent films have lacked. It's young, fresh and funny.
A lot of the funniest stuff comes from Johnny Knoxville look-alike Timothy Olyphant ("Go"). A "talent" recruiter and Danielle's former director, he plays friend and foe to Matthew by offering advice on ladies and trying to kill him at different segments of the film.
Why this movie is funny is obvious, but how it happened, is perplexing. The combination of director Luke Greenfield ("The Animal") and screenwriters David Wagner and Brent Goldberg ("My Baby's Daddy") seems like a recipe for some sort of terrible stew, with Rob Schneider's talent as the base. So you'd think it would be incredibly thin. But it's a rich concoction that will probably satisfy anyone with a sense of humor.
And beyond the humor, the filmmakers actually tackle semi-important themes about sex and censorship.
If you're feeling like you're in the twiight zone, I understand. But go out and see this movie, and you'll understand. Either that, or maybe I'm like those people who love Seann William Scott and I just don't know.