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Propaniac
Nov 28, 2000

SUSHI ROULETTO!
College Slice
Directed by: Ken Kwapis
Starring: Alexis Bledel, America Ferrera, Blake Lively, Amber Tamblyn

I can't tell you how shocked I am that nobody has yet started a review thread for this movie. I know all you guys have been waiting on tenterhooks for its release for months.

Sorry, that was an obligatory nod to the fact that this is a movie about four teenage girls, expressly designed to appeal to girls and women, and I'm not gonna lie to you and say that if you give it a chance, you'll be drawn right in. A lot of male reviewers over at Rotten Tomatoes admitted that the movie got to them, and gave it their approval. But this is a movie about relationships and family conflict and interpersonal drama and learning about who you are and finding out who you want to be, and there's no violence or foul language or obscenity beyond the occasional bra and panties.

And I totally loved it. I am a girl, and like many of the female persuasion, I get off on this stuff. I really have no clue whether any guys would be able to relate to it; I'd like to think so, but maybe not. I don't care. I found it to be one of the least disappointing movies I've seen in a long time; I have no complaints at all. I could see how some people could have complaints while still appreciating the movie, but I feel the film hit every mark right on target.

The movie is about the experiences of four sixteen-year-old best friends over one summer. At the risk of regurgitating pretty much this exact same paragraph from every review written, these girls are: "rebellious, sarcastic" Tibby (Amber Tamblyn of Joan of Arcadia), who's stuck at home in Bethesda and working on a documentary about the faux Wal-Mart where she works; bold and reckless Bridget (Blake Lively), who's at a soccer camp in Mexico (and, by the way, who is pretty freakin' hot); sassy, bright Carmen (America Ferrera of Real Women Have Curves), who goes to spend the summer with her father (Bradley Whitford) but is shocked to find that he's on the cusp of remarriage; and shy, insecure Lena (Alexis Bledel of Gilmore Girls), who's on a Greek island visiting her grandparents.

I thought the casting was great; all four actresses do really good work. None of the stories would be strong enough as they are to carry their own film, but that doesn't matter; combined, they provide plenty of fuel, and the editing between them is pulled off very nicely. There's some nice texture to each individual plot, as well; for example, while Carmen's soon-to-be stepmother could have been simply a bitch and/or a racist, she is a well-intentioned person who has suffered her own hard knocks in the past, and a lot of Carmen's story is about why she misdirects the anger that she should be expressing to her father.

If my 4.5 rating is the only one this movie ever gets here, I can certainly live with that.

RATING: 4.5

PROS: Fun, engaging, touching, nicely-paced
CONS: Probably won't appeal to 95-99% of goons

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: http://imdb.com/title/tt0403508/

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DukeRustfield
Aug 6, 2004
I should not be allowed to breed.

(USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)

Somebody fucked around with this message at 06:31 on Jun 16, 2005

Sophia
Apr 16, 2003

The heart wants what the heart wants.
Right off of the bat, I will say that none of the men out there will actively want to see this movie. I felt very sorry for those guys on their dates in the theater (though they had an excellent chance to play the supportive and sensitive boyfriend.)

Okay, now I'm talking to the few girls on this forum. If you want to be touched, and aren't completely cynical, see this movie. It's surprisingly good. It starts off on shaky ground- 4 best friends so stereotypical that it hurts. The chance of this eclectic group of girls actually being able to tolerate each other for so long is slim, but let's suspend some belief. They find their magical pair of pants as they are about to split up for the summer, and the stage is set for their four different stories.

The absolute best part of this movie for me is, while each story is about love, only one is about falling in love. Coincidentally, the story about the romantic love was my least favorite- love at 16? Yeah, okay. The other three learn about loving the good things about people when you can, parental love and acceptance, and that sex isn't a subsitute for dealing with pain. Even the romantic love girl learns to love herself. Girl power? Yes. Sappy? Yes. Cliché? Absolutely. But touching nonetheless.

People told me that I would cry at this movie. For the first half, I couldn't figure out why. I mean, the acting was good, the stories were moving along their predictable arcs, and I was bopping right along. But the actresses pulled me right in and didn't let me off until the end of the movie. Carmen (America Ferrera of Real Women Have Curves) in particular is an actress who can reach straight to your heart. When she speaks with her rarely-present father, she makes you believe her pain and her love, and I don't think any girl in the theater had a dry eye.

This is not a perfect movie, nor is it a goon movie. But if you have a group of girl best friends, and you're in the mood for a film to sniffle over, I'd really recommend it. Maybe when it comes out on video so you can pass tissues around to each other ;).

Rating: 4/5

Sophia fucked around with this message at 16:11 on Jun 24, 2005

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