All I Wanna Do

Released 1998
Stars Kirsten Dunst, Gaby Hoffmann, Lynn Redgrave, Rachael Leigh Cook, Tom Guiry, Vincent Kartheiser, Monica Keena, Matthew Lawrence, Heather Matarazzo
Directed by Sarah Kernochan

Stashed by her parents into an all-girls boarding school in Connecticut, a new girl is befriended by a group of dynamic young women who call themselves the D.A.R. The initials stand for Daughters of the American Ravioli: Basically, the girls get together to eat stolen canned food and share their most secret desires – and then pledge to help each other achieve them, no matter what the cost. One night they find out that the school is going co-ed, and the D.A.R. is instantly split. Half of them think it’s the greatest idea since Midol. The other half thinks it would be a disaster – and mounts an elaborate scheme to stop the boys’ invasion. Who wins out?

Summary by www.netflix.com

The first half of the film doesn't go anywhere. It's a nice slice of life at the boarding school, but it's nothing we haven't seen before many times. The second half works better, but it becomes a gross-out. I did enjoy the strike at the end, though, because it showed the value of the all-girls school. In that time period, girls could be over-shadowed by boys in the classroom, and this movie was intelligent about the way girls would crumble in front of boys and men. My favorite part of the movie was Lynn Redgrave, who was wonderful. She brought an earnestness and dignity to the film that almost elevated it to the point where I could recommend it, but it was just too repetitive of the teen movies from the past 25 years. Now, if there had been some nudity, that would have been a different story. --Bill Alward, February 02, 2002 (02/02/02!)