'The Girl Next Door'
(Emile Hirsch, Elisha Cuthbert, Timothy Olyphant / R / 93 mins / 20th Century Fox)
Overview: Eighteen-year-old Matthew Kidman (Emile Hirsch) is a straight-arrow over-achiever who has never really lived life, until he falls for his new neighbor, the beautiful and seemingly innocent Danielle (Elisha Cuthbert). When Matthew discovers this perfect "girl next door" is a one-time porn star, his sheltered existence begins to spin out of control.
Verdict: To be quite honest, 'The Girl Next Door' is perfect fodder for Maxim magazine subscribers, and an airbrushed, empty-headed bore for everybody else! What is disturbing and frankly distasteful about this film is how slick and shameless it is in its eagerness to blur boundaries, to squeeze as much transgressive material as it can into a nominally bland and innocent form! I mean, come on. What if you were a horny high school geek and a porn star moved in next door? Your answer will surely outwit anything in this cut-rate 'Risky Business'. In closing, and unfortunately, by the end even the beautiful Elisha Cuthbert starts to look repulsive!