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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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Jun 10, 2005 17:45
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| # ¿ Apr 27, 2024 07:20 |
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