For Love of The Movies

Every so often a film comes along which I find very hard to classify. Comedies are funny. Thrillers keep you on the edge of your seat. Explosions, car chases and gun fights mean action. And, when I’m forced to watch a film during day light hours and still look over the couch every 5 minutes – I’m watching a horror film. Then there is this unclassifiable lot. A film that is so special that it doesn’t fit into a genre. And 9 times out of 10, I find the film a borderline masterpiece. It’s a film that I can 100% relate to. A film that builds characters to a point that you feel like you are standing next to them in the film. Characters you care about and want to know more about. A human piece. A film you don’t want to end.

Beautiful Girls was made in 1996. It was directed by Ted Demme, whose most recognisable work after this was 2001’s ‘Blow’ with Johnny Depp. Beautiful Girls has an outstanding cast… Matt Dillon (Something About Mary), Noah Emmerich (Frequency, Pride & Glory), Annabeth Gish (Mystic Pizza, Wyatt Earp), Lauren Holly (Dumb & Dumber), Timothy Hutton (The Dark Half), Rosie O’Donnell (Now & Then), Max Perlich (Cliffhanger, Maverick, Blow), Martha Plimpton (The Mosquito Coast, 200 Cigarettes), Uma Thurman (Pulp Fiction, Gattaca, Kill Bill), Mira Sorvino (Mighty Aphrodite, Mimic, At First Sight), Michael Rapaport (Metro, Deep Blue Sea, Higher Learning), David Arquette (Scream, Buffy The Vampire Slayer) and Natalie Portman (Star Wars, The Professional, Closer).

The story revolves around a group of 5 friends (Dillon, Emmerich, Hutton, Perlich and Rapaport) from a small town. They all grew up together and went to school together. Hutton’s character was the only one who left and tried to make a life for himself elsewhere. The story picks up as he is making his way back to the small town for their school reunion. And then, we experience two weeks back in the lives of these school mates and the ‘beautiful girls’ in their lives. All of the basic scenarios are covered. The guy with the long time girlfriend whom he’s cheating on (with a married woman). The guy with the on-off, on-off, on-off long term girlfriend who has taken too long to pop the question. The guy with no girl. They guy who is waiting for a super-model. The happily married guy with kids. And, the guy with the girl, who just doesn’t know what he wants in life. Over the course of the film, we meet these people and become part of their lives. It’s a very satisfying journey.

The soundtrack is very good and suits the films style perfectly. The cast is excellent with the finest performance of the film coming from Natalie Portman, who only two years earlier had blown me away with her performance in Luc Besson’s, The Professional (Leon). She is incredible and her scenes with Timothy Hutton are one of the highlights of film.

The back and forth banter between the five leads whilst visiting the numerous local ‘water-holes’ provides some of the more enjoyable dialogue through the film. By the end of the movie; Dillon has to come to terms with his girl waiting for him back home and the married woman with whom he’s sleeping, Rapaport needs to confront his on-off long term relationship and make a decision and Hutton will finally find the answers he’s been searching for…

Emmerich is the most grounded of the group and his character plays like the big brother looking after all of them and their best interests. Thurman has an interesting role as one of the most ‘beautiful girls’ who glides into town and basically becomes a ’spirit guide’ for the confused men. And finally, Rosie O’Donnell is the town’s real woman who looks after the girls and keeps the boys in check. She has a hilarious scene in which she explains her feelings on men’s dirty magazines and super-models. Classic writing.

I assure you should you decide to take this journey and watch the film, you will not be disappointed. You’ll probably arrive at the credits and wish there was more. Unfortunately not, 112 minutes is all we get, so enjoy them’. This film gets an 8/10, for love of the movie and the beautiful girls.