GIRL (** out of ******)
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Girl tells the story of an eighteen-year-old girl, Andrea Marr (Dominique Swain, who was the object of desire in the remake of Lolita) in her last summer of high school, and the events that take place before she leaves for a prestigious university. She is a grade-A student, her family is wealthy and she leads a straightforward, if uneventful, life. Her only concern, shared with her best friend, Darcy, is when she will 'become a woman' (i.e. lose her virginity). Feeling that she needs more 'life' experience, she heads to a seedy part of town, where she encounters the lead singer of a local underground band, Todd Sparrow (Sean Patrick Flanery). Completely smitten, she decides to ditch her prim and proper lifestyle and embrace the 'alternative' scene, in order to impress Todd.
It is easy to see how this movie got made. Take a confused but savvy Nineties teenager (My So-Called Life), add a humorous take on the rites and passages of high-school (Clueless) and add a background of an alternative music scene (Singles). Unfortunately, despite slavishly copying bits of each of those productions, the result is a trite and boring teen flick. Clichés abound, from the thick-headed jocks, the randy and drunk college students trying to deflower Andrea, to the shy but artistic boy that no one but Andrea appreciates.
The film is essentially a journey - Andrea must find her real self, as she becomes a woman. In addition to having sex (and experiencing love for the first time), she is also trying to discover what is her philosophy for life. She embraces the alternative scene, which means that she ditches her best friend for a group of students generally regarded as the school losers. This group has formed a struggling rock-band, consisting of Cybil, the brash, devil-may-care lead singer (whom Andrea secretly admires), and the geeky duo of Greg (David Moscow) and Kevin (Channon Roe). Andrea latches onto this group, since it brings her into contact with Todd. Andrea soon becomes obsessed with Todd and becomes what she had previously despised - a groupie.
There used to be a TV series called Midnight Caller, which starred Gary Cole as a late-night DJ on a talk-radio station. At the end of every episode, Gary would sign off portentously with a bit of philosophy which was invariably inane, stating something so blindingly obvious that it served only to illuminate why he was working the graveyard shift. I was reminded of that show while watching this film. Like Clueless and My So-Called Life, Girl has a narration by Andrea. Unfortunately, she tends to babble incessantly without being either funny or meaningful. It was a mistake to use the music scene as a backdrop, too. Singles managed to capture the Zeitgeist of the grunge era when it was released (and would have featured Nirvana's debut if it hadn't been for the corporate boot of their record company). Part of Todd's charisma is that he is a struggling artist, an image that is swiftly dispelled once he starts singing. The movie devotes far too much time to his performances on stage, which sound like the result of a whinging competition between Neil Diamond and Jon Bon Jovi. Not a pleasant prospect, by any means.
What finally sinks the movie is the last twenty minutes, when the film attempts to become a serious teen drama and fails miserably. Having ignored almost every character except Todd and Andrea for most of the movie, suddenly the peripheral characters take centre stage and then disappear after a few scenes. In addition, Andrea's life takes some unexpected turns, which are so unbelievable (compared to the earlier part of the film) that I presumed it would all be explained as a dream sequence. I presumed wrongly.
The one saving grace (and it's a big one) is the performance of Dominique Swain. Despite the lack of even one original line of dialogue, she manages to be funny, sexy and vulnerable. The film works best when it's trying to be funny - there are a couple of good scenes between Andrea and her well meaning (if perpetually worried parents, particularly when they attempt to explain the facts of life to her). However, those scenes are too few, and are not enough to save a movie, which feels like a very bad episode of Beverly Hills 90120.
(c) Review of Film 1999
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