Beautiful Girls Character Name: Marty Go back Reviews From James Berardinelli's Film Reviews Beautiful Girls - 2 out of 4 stars United States, 1996 U.S. Release Date: 2/9/96 (wide) Running Length: 1:50 MPAA Classification: R (Mature themes, sex, profanity, violence) Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Cast: Timothy Hutton, Matt Dillon, Michael Rapaport, Max Perlich, Lauren Holly, Natalie Portman, Uma Thurman, Rosie O'Donnell, Martha Plimpton, Mira Sorvino, Annabeth Gish Director: Ted Demme Producer: Cary Woods Screenplay: Scott Rosenberg Cinematography: Adam Kimmel Music: David A. Stewart U.S. Distributor: Miramax Films Despite its name, Beautiful Girls is actually about a group of irritating, twenty-something males whose adolescent attitudes have remained with them well into adulthood. This film centers around a 10-year high school reunion, which explains why so many twenty-eight year olds are gathering in a town where "nothing changes but the seasons." Of course, it goes without saying that most of the principals never left this sleepy, snowy New England hamlet in the first place. Of the nearly-dozen characters assembled for the reunion, only one -- musician Willie (Timothy Hutton) -- had the ambition to head for distant horizons. He returns home with a girlfriend named Tracy (Annabeth Gish) and a host of uncertainties about whether or not he should marry her. Willie isn't the only one going through an under-30 life crisis. Borrowing heavily from other, better films, director Ted Demme and screenwriter Scott Rosenberg give each of their male protagonists a case of commitment angst. Tommy (Matt Dillon) is caught between two women: the gorgeous-but-married Darien (an unconvincing Lauren Holly) and Sharon (Mira Sorvino), a quiet girl who is desperately in love with him. Paul (the always-irritating Michael Rapaport) would rather fantasize about trysts with supermodels than admit his feelings to his girlfriend, Jan (Martha Plimpton). And Tommy's best friend (Max Perlich) prefers to spend his nights drinking rather than risk becoming involved in a serious relationship. Dozens of previous releases have plowed the paths traversed by Beautiful Girls. This uninspired retread offers little in the way of originality or freshness. Especially disappointing is the ending, which pulls together all sorts of melodramatic cliches, then uses handwaving to construct hard-to-swallow resolutions for nearly every dilemma. Suddenly -- surprise, surprise -- just about everyone is willing to make a lifelong commitment. Along the way to this conclusion, we get lots of snappy patter that sounds like it came straight out of a script-writer's pen. There are some high points. Several of the characters, notably those essayed by Timothy Hutton, Matt Dillon, Uma Thurman, and especially Natalie Portman, attain some semblance of believability. Portman, playing a charming, precocious 13-year old who develops a crush on Willie, deserves special recognition. While this subplot could easily have devolved into Lolita-inspired soap opera material, Portman uses her considerable talent to keep things on a higher level. After each of her too-few scenes in Beautiful Girls, we're eagerly anticipating the next one (they're about the only things worth waiting for). It's interesting to note that in her two significant roles to date (this film and The Professional), Portman has fallen for much older men. Other than the interaction between Portman and Hutton, effective moments are rare. There's an admittedly-dopey sequence in a bar where everyone gathers to mangle Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline", and another where Willie and Andera (Uma Thurman) share a quiet evening conversation about life, love, and what it means to devote yourself to someone else's happiness. Besides those rare occasions, though, Beautiful Girls doesn't have much to offer. A great deal of this film is derivative, and you're likely to leave the theater with an unpleasant sense of deja vu. © 1996 James Berardinelli

From Entertainment Weekly BOYS WILL BE BOYS, UNTIL 30 JUVENILE COURTSHIPS GET PROBATION IN 'BEAUTIFUL GIRLS' Review by Lisa Schwarzbaum There is absolutely nothing going on in BEAUTIFUL GIRLS (Miramax, R) that you haven't seen in Diner, Singles, or any other artistic endeavor in which untethered young men and women, bound by geography and fortified by beer, shamble their way toward overdue maturity. In this variation, directed, with overfondness for the goofy ways of guys, by Ted Demme (The Ref) and written, with overfondness for the sound of guys pontificating about nothing, by Scott Rosenberg (Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead), the setting is a fictional industrial Massachusetts town. The central character is Willie (Timothy Hutton), the One Who Got Away to try his luck on the piano-bar circuit in Manhattan. Willie is 29 and he's got a terrific girlfriend (Annabeth Gish), but he's, oh, not sure about commitment stuff. So he takes the bus back home for a high school reunion. Willie's pals are happy to see him--among them the former hotshot Birdman (Matt Dillon), who continues to get it on with his married ex-sweetheart (Lauren Holly) while dating an anorexic doormat (Mira Sorvino); and Birdman's roommate, Paul (Michael Rapaport), who's got a fixation about pinup supermodels. The boys sit around a lot talking about girls 'n' things. And while Willie molders, he also sounds out his wobbly life theories on Andera (Uma Thurman), the town bartender's glamorous visiting cousin, as well as on Marty (Natalie Portman, the exquisite child star of The Professional), the 13-year-old girl next door on whom he develops a no-touch crush. In the midst of this unexceptional addition to the film library of dramas about men who don't have a clue and the women who graduated with them, two discordant female roles fascinate for their remarkable wrongness. The impossibly sophisticated and unpimpled Marty represents one end of Rosenberg's spectrum of idealized femalehood: pretty, virginal, alluring, safe--and false. That's because she's a child, ladies and gentlemen--or has no one noticed, so bright is her Pepsodent smile? And at the other end, there's Gina, the older, wiseacre local beautician, who shows up in one long pithy speech to lecture the guys about what dolls are really like. Gina is single, mouthy, chunky, ethnic, wry--and played with gusto by Rosie O'Donnell like a stand-up comedian parachuted into Boys Town. She's the Beautiful Girls idea of what girls can understand only when they're not beautiful. She should take the bus outta town ASAP to a place where filmmakers don't rely on Elle Macpherson as a muse. C+ BEAUTIFUL GIRLS Review by Joe Neumaier BEAUTIFUL GIRLS Timothy Hutton, Uma Thurman (1996, Miramax, R, priced for rental) A buddy flick so sensitive it makes The Big Chill seem frigid, Beautiful Girls is even more treacly on the small screen, where its "guy talk" and chummy hugs feel forced. New York musician Willie (Hutton) takes flight from his girlfriend and commitment to attend his high school reunion, where the old gang (Matt Dillon, Michael Rapaport) wrestle with dashed hopes. The titular objects of desire include the mistreated women in their lives (Mira Sorvino, Lauren Holly) and a visiting vision of perfection (Thurman). In the one bright spot of director Ted Demme's otherwise mopey film, Willie initiates a sweet friendship with a much younger beautiful girl, his 13-year-old neighbor, Marty (Natalie Portman, who gives the film's liveliest performance). In the end, her maturity is miles more interesting than any of the film's emotionally stunted adults. C --Joe Neumaier

From Rod's Movie Reviews Easily my fave kind of movie - take a talented ensemble cast of twenty/thirtysomethings and get them to chew the fat about life, love, lust and all of that men/women relationships thang. OK, so not much happens (there's a gratifying lack of car chases, explosions, aliens and the like) but that doesn't matter cos it's well written, well acted and doesn't rely on a trillion dollar FX budget to entertain you. A definite relation to plenty of big & small screen offerings (how about Diner, American Graffiti, thirtysomething, Friends and The Big Chill to start with), Beautiful Girls is the story of a group of smalltown New England pals who get together for a school reunion. Naturally there's a whole range of life's tricky little challenges to be navigated, including infidelity, careers, monogamy, puppy love, commitment and the like. Beautiful Girls, through a genuinely superb cast (Matt Dillon, Uma Thurman, Rosie O'Donnell, Timothy Hutton, Lauren Holly, Annabeth Gish, Mira Sorvino and the fabulous Natalie Portman in movie-stealing mode) tackles them with plenty of wit and warmth, without resorting to a cringe inducing schmaltz-fest. If you like feel-good with plenty of bittersweet on the side, then Beautiful Girls is for you. And hey, any movie that can make a Neil Diamond tune cool must be worth seeing. 9 out of 10 (Rod Irvine) Go back

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