Rating: 
Summary: Well-Made if Fairly By-The-Numbers Characters and Story
Review: "Beautiful Girls" is one of those movies whose characters and stories are so familiar--just walk into any smoky bar on a Friday night and look around--that it makes you wonder why it even had to be made, well-made as it is. In a kind of Bizarro World "St. Elmo's Fire" (read: blue collar), we nonetheless have yet another group of young, white 20-somethings struggling through . . . well, they're not really struggling so much as just refusing to grow up, meaning that their problems are more issues of identical character flaws than anything else, and if you don't relate to or care about the characters--which I too frequently did not--the story falls flat. (Their bodies matured a lot faster than the rest of them--and isn't that always the predictable central conflict in these stories?) So, you'll see the standard male types--the ex-jock womanizer (Matt Dillon), the well-read sensitive guy (Timothy Hutton)--so sensitive as to be in love with a 13-year-old (a delightful Natalie Portman) whose maturity ironically is well beyond those of the adults--the cement-headed goof (Michael Rappaport), the dutiful husband, the oafish but wizened bartender, etc. The women fare slightly better, as the blonde bombshell (Uma Thurman) actually has a brain and heart, even if the cute doormat (Mina Sorvino--think Betty from "Archie") and husky hairdresser (Rosie O'Donnell--think Alice from "The Brady Bunch") could be plopped into a dozen other projects without adjustment. There are lots of things to like about this movie--the sincere, often quietly effective performances, the earthy soundtrack, the civilized grittiness of the town, Ted Demme's hands-off direction--but how many times does the same story need to be told, with many of the same cliches (There's even a fight in the alley behind the bar!)? In addition, having grown up in a blue-collar town, some details are off in the way Hollywood prefers them--yes, blue-collar folk drink but these people are raging alcholics, working class people typically have jobs, which they work very hard at, and where are all the racist and sexist jokes and hazing, even if Minnesota as depicted in the film seems completely devoid of minorities? Watch it, I guess, if your life turned out like this--or threatens to.
Rating: 
Summary: The movie that best sympathizes with 20 something males.
Review: "Beautiful Girls" depicts various characters in diverse situations as they return to their hometown for 10 year high school reunion. If you're a guy faced with growing up while wary of change and the fleeting of time, this is the movie for you. It's charming and entertaining with moments of melancoly. It tackles the "idea" of love--what it is, what it isn't, and how to be sure of it. The best movie of this type that I have ever seen.
Rating:
Summary: A Masterpiece of Movie-Making
Review: "Beautiful Girls" is a movie that might have escaped your eyes, and unfortunately, that's a shame. For those of you who haven't seen it, you're missing one of the best films ever to be released in the 1990s, and with an ensemble -- yet not mega -- cast, the basic plot is rendered beautifully.Revolving around a bunch of twentysomething friends awaiting their 10-year high school reunion, Beautiful Girls never makes us feel pity. Taking place in a small New England town during the winter, the characters never offer apologies for sticking around their bleak city streets. To them, it doesn't matter that they're plowing snow, cutting hair, or tending bar. The fact remains that the town is their home, and only Willy, Tim Hutton's character, is the "outsider" now. He's a piano-player who has returned from his big-city "life" to attend the reunion with his old pals. But it's the title of the movie that gives it its life. When Uma Therman comes walking into the picture, everything changes. You see, each man has a "beautiful girl" in his life that affects him. For Matt Dillon's "Birdie," it's Mira Sirvino (Sharon, girlfriend) AND the delicious (but married) former high school girlfriend Lauren Holly (Darien). For Michael Rapaport (Paul), Martha Plimpton (Jan) is his main squeeze, but he's enamored with supermodels, as evidenced by his collection of centerfolds on his wall and his dog, "Elle MacPherson." To him, beautiful girls not only represent life -- they give it. In Mo's case (Noah Emmerich), he's the married one, dedicated to his wife and kids. As for Kev (Max Perlich), well, he's got his own issues. But Willie presents the most entertaining dialogue with his "girls." He's got his steady lawyer girlfriend Tracy (Annabeth Gish) coming into town, much to the dismay of the next-door neighbor, Marty, played with unabashed gusto by the beautiful Natalie Portman. Marty's age difference presents the real challenge to Willie, but the relationship is almost adult. Their dialogue is perhaps the best thing about the movie, and the viewer will actually come to realize why Willie is so infatuated with this 13-year-old "beautiful girl." Portman's character has a way of connecting with the male audience that needs to be seen. But Uma Therman's Andera is actually the girl that comes and makes sense of each man's life. A big-city advertising exec, Andera can drink whiskey with the best of 'em, turn on the charm, and offer up wisdom and a helping hand to each of the guys. Her presence awakens the realization of every man in the movie that the best thing about their beautiful girls is the simple things. Although she seems to be "the perfect girl," she makes the guys come to realize that other men see their women in exactly the same light. She represents all the things that the men simply can't see in their beautiful girls. If they look more closely, it's all there. Rosie O'Donnell makes a wonderful appearance in the movie as well, but Natalie Portman's Marty is the real reason to watch this one. She is simply sensational. A great story with witty one-liners and some stuff that can make you shed a tear, "Beautiful Girls" won't easily be forgotten.
Rating:
Summary: More than a good solid 7.5. Portman & Hutton are great.
Review: A fantastic comedy. Wonderfully written and performed even better
Rating:
Summary: THE RULES ARE CLEAR
Review: A GOOD MOVIE WILL SIMPLY ENTERTIAIN YOU. A GREAT MOVIE WILL ENTERTAIN YOU, AS WELL AS IT WILL LEAVE YOU WITH SOMETHING, EMOTIONALLY. THIS IS A GREAT MOVIE. I'M NOT GOING TO EXPLAIN IT, I'M JUST GONNA SAY IT. I LOVE THIS FILM.
Rating: 
Summary: a slice of life, funny and poignant
Review: A ten-year class reunion is approaching as we are introduced to a group of likable yet clueless guys, and the longsuffering women in their lives. Rosie O'Donnell delivers a stellar performance as the voice of wisdom and tries to
give the guys a dose of reality therapy. The all-star cast performs well in putting together this light-hearted look at the angst of youth. You will laugh out loud at some hilarious dilemmas as well as smile wryly at some universal truths. Recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Featuring the Future Padme Amidala...
Review: A terrific ensemble cast brings this film to life, which focuses on the difficulties some face in making that final, "mental" leap from adolescence to adulthood, and spend way too many years trying to sort it all out. As one of the characters so tellingly puts it at one point, "I'm not anywhere close to being the man I thought I'd be--" and the denial, that failure to accept the fact that time stands still for no man, and the inability to choose which path to take when you hit that inevitable fork in the road, forms the basis for director Ted Demme's examination of how human nature affects the process of maturating, in "Beautiful Girls," a drama featuring Timothy Hutton, Matt Dillon and a young Natalie Portman. Willie Conway (Hutton) is back home in the Midwest for his high school reunion, but more than that, to try and make some decisions about his future. He finds that nothing much has changed-- the town, or his old friends, most of whom seem to be exerting more time and energy attempting to cling to what was, rather than moving on with their lives. Tommy Rowland (Dillon), for instance, the high school "hero," as it were, now drives a snowplow; for all intents and purposes, his life "peaked" in high school, and he can't seem to get past it. Then there's Paul (Michael Rapaport), who just doesn't seem to want to grow up; after a seven year relationship with Jan (Martha Plimpton), he refuses to make that final commitment-- after all, "What's the rush?" All of which does nothing to help Willie with his own dilemma; the only words of wisdom he gets from anyone, in fact, come from the precocious thirteen-year-old, Marty (Natalie Portman), who lives next door. But in a couple of days, Tracy (Annabeth Gish), the girl Willie "thinks" he wants to marry, is due to arrive from Chicago, so it's time to move beyond the crossroads; for Willie, it's decision time. Demme delivers a story that just about everyone in the audience is going to connect with on some level, because everyone's gone through (or will go through) these kinds of things at one time or another. Who hasn't experienced, if only for a moment, that sense of either wanting to stay as they are or going back to what they were, when life was better, or at least simpler. Or more fun. Working from a screenplay by Scott Rosenberg, Demme examines the relationships between this eclectic group of individuals in a way that offers some insights into human nature that will no doubt elicit some reflection on the part of the viewer. It all points up that, no matter what it may look like on the surface, underneath it all we're not so different from one another; we all share that common bond of learning life's lessons one day at a time, albeit in our own particular way, which corresponds to who we are as individuals. And Demme succeeds in telling his story with warmth and humor; by tapping into the humanity at the heart of it all. The story may focus on Willie, but the film is a true ensemble piece, realized as it is through the sum of it's many and varied parts. It's a talented cast of actors bringing a unique bunch of characters to life that makes this film what it is, beginning with Hutton, who anchors it with his solid portrayal of Willie, a challenging role in that Willie has to be an average guy who is unique in his own right. The same can be said of Dillon's Tommy, in whom traces of Dallas Winston from "The Outsiders" can be found; Tommy is, perhaps, just Dallas a few years later. Mira Sorvino gives a memorable performance by creating the most sympathetic character in the film, Tommy's girlfriend, Sharon. This is the girl who was never going to be prom queen, and who up until now has lacked the self-confidence necessary to create a positive environment for herself. Lauren Holly, meanwhile, succeeds with her portrayal of Darian Smalls, the absolute opposite of Sharon, a young woman who is probably too positive for her own good and who lives the life of a perpetual prom queen, an individual who-- as another character succinctly puts it-- was "Mean as a snake," back in the day. Good performances that add a balanced perspective to the film. There are two performances here that really steal the show, however. The first being that of Michael Rapaport, who as Paul so completely and convincingly captures the very essence of an average Joe with not too much on the ball, no prospects for the future to speak of, but who is, at heart, a good guy. There's humor and pathos in his portrayal, which personifies that particular state of being the film is seeking to depict. Excellent work by Rapaport, and decidedly one of the strengths of the film. The most memorable performance of all, however, is turned in by Natalie Portman, who at fifteen is playing the thirteen-year-old Marty, the girl mature and wise beyond her years ("I'm an old soul," as she puts it), with whom Willie forms a kind of bond as she, in her own way, helps him to sort out his feelings and find his focus. Portman's performance here-- some three years before she would forever become Padme Amidala-- exhibits that spark and charismatic screen presence that has served her so well since, in films like "Anywhere But Here," and "Where the Heart Is." She has for some time been, and continues to be, one of the finest and most promising young actors in the business. The cast also includes Noah Emmerich (Mo), Rosie O'Donnell (Gina), Max Perlich (Kev), Uma Thurman (Andrea), Anne Bobby (Sarah) and Pruitt Taylor Vince (Stanley), all of whom help to make "Beautiful Girls" a memorable and satisfying cinematic experience. And that's the magic of the movies.
Rating:
Summary: Bottled promise....
Review: Ahh...beautiful girls. Beautiful girls. As one character (played by the ever-annoying Michael Rapaport) theorizes, a beautiful girl is "nothing but bottled promise-the promise of a new tomorrow!" Oddly enough Ted Demme's BEAUTIFUL GIRLS revolves little around the subject of beautiful women, but focuses on the promise of a new tomorrow-and does so to a middling effect. BEAUTIFUL GIRLS is largely a slice-of-life tale detailing the means by which Willie (an able Timothy Hutton) transverses a sort of early-mid-life crossroads. He's come to a point of ambiguity in his life: his career as a bar-pianist hasn't quite panned out like he'd hoped and his successful lawyer/girlfriend of eleven months wants a commitment for which he's not certain he's ready. Just in the nick of time, comes Willie's ten-year high school reunion-a time to visit old friends and sort out the mess of his life. The film becomes an ensemble piece soon after Willie's arrival home. We meet his old High School buddies (none of whom have had any motivation to leave their small town) and find they have problems of their own. Tommy (Matt Dillon)-much to the dismay of his present, long-suffering girlfriend (Mira Sorvino)-is hopelessly infatuated with Darian (Lauren Holly), his now-married, ex-High School sweetheart. Paul (Michael Rapaport) has just been dumped by his girlfriend of seven years (Martha Plimpton) for a meat-cutter because he refuses to commit. BEAUTIFUL GIRLS weaves in and out of these several stories sometimes with verve and sometimes without. The most interesting of these stories is, of course, Willie's own. Upon arrival to the house of his youth (now marred by the death of his mother a few years prior), he meets Marty (a sublime role essayed by young Natalie Portman), the 13 year-old daughter of some neighbors who have moved in since his own departure. Through a series of conversations chock-full of literary references (to Shakespeare, Milne, Nabakov, etc.) Marty develops a crush on Willie who remains sixteen years her senior and Willie begins to seriously contemplate waiting for this young sweetheart. As "dirty-ol' man" as this might sound on paper, the audience, due to Portman's and Hutton's acting, is actually given a glimpse into what might drive such a fascination. The chemistry between Willie and Marty is undeniable and in fact, possibly stronger than that between Jennifer Lopez and George Clooney in OUT OF SIGHT. Another aspect that added to the film's quality was the manner of resolutions: though many loose ends are tied up in the final moments, like real life, many things (to the movie's credit) remain unresolved. All told, BEAUTIFUL GIRLS hits in some aspects and misses in others, but shouldn't be missed if for no other reason than to catch Natalie Portman and Timothy Hutton in fine form.
Rating:
Summary: amazing, brilliant, very under rated
Review: Among my favorite movies of all time, you almost wish you were in the town hanging with these brilliant characters. Preformances by Timothy Hutton, Michael Rappaport (unreal), and Rosie O'Donnel, among their best, while the rest of the star studded cast shines very brightly in their roles. A movie that was not afraid to tackle subjects that may not be politicly correct (Hutton's interest in a 13 year old girl) will ensure that this movie is a landmark release for years to come. 'Beautiful Girls' already has quite a cult following with audiences aged 18 - 35. I can't express enough how much this movie should be apprieciated.
Rating:
Summary: pooh and christopher robbin....
Review: an amazing movie that combines a solid script with an allstar cast. From the outset the movie comes across as deeply personal where the viewer can identify with the characters. The interaction between Timothy Hutton and Natalie Portman is the best part of the movie (as Portman's character says "Romeo & Juliet--the dyslexic version"). Two people separated by years and society can't take their relationship further than passing conversation. Above all this is a great movie among the crap that gets produced nowadays (i.e. Armageddon, the Postman) which I highly recommend.
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