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The Feminist's Movie Reviews Page

September 1st, 2004                         The Girl Next Door

     I had very mixed feelings about this film, in between the rompingly fun comedic scenes, of course. Being a young liberal feminist I found it overall to be somewhat better than the mainstream but still a bit of a disappointment, being that the title and previews juxtaposed this "girl next door" with her being a porn star. All in all this was mostly a guilty and at times infuriating pleasure.

     This romantic comedy (for the boys as some might argue) finds the goody-two shoes leading star Matthew contemplating what he will remember most from his high school years mere weeks before graduation. Yet the only thing he can think of is not even a memory, but a hope that he can win the full scholarship to Georgetown University that he's been vying for. He tries to change his ways and live a more exciting life but is held back by his own fears... that is until the sexy girl-next-door (Danielle) he's been ogling comes to his rescue and teaches him how to have a good time and break some rules.

     The two fall in love and begin dating and everything is hunky-dorey until Matthew's best friend Eli shows him that Danielle is actually a porn star. Matthew freaks out and tries avoiding her until Eli convinces him to play the cold, tough masculine role and take her to a Motel, because, well she IS a porn star. Matthew, horrendously does as he imagines a porn star would want to be treated and the two eventually get into a fight. Later on, Matthew realizes the error of his ways but when he approaches her to apologize he discovers that she is going back to being a porn star instead of continuing her attempt to start up a new life and going back to college.

     Matthew refuses to give up on her though and while following her around the porn underworld, he and his friends invariably encounter some surprising and hilarious detours and obstacles. In the end, Matthew does convince Danielle to give up being a porn star but doesn't get the scholarship to Georgetown (though he is able to attend through some extra cash made during one of his escapades in the porn underworld).

     I knew from the opening montage that this would (regrettably) be another white male dominated film. The movie displayed scenes of good times at the high school while about five seniors spoke about what they would remember most. And while the scenes showed an ethnically diverse crowd, all of the seniors speaking were white and only one of them was a female. (In fact, the other four white males played secondary roles in the film, but the young lady was never shown again. Can we say "token female?") This racial exclusion persisted throughout the movie. In fact, the only parts after this that I can remember that had any other races than caucasian were a black bouncer at the porn awards that was alloted maybe 5 lines at most, and an Asian porn star friend of Danielles who is given two lines, just a few words for background interest, and a lesbian make-out scene.

     Then things started to get better. Yes, there was the cliched Nerd wanting to break free, his friend wanting to bang everything that breaths, and his other friend simply wanting to stay out of trouble, most of the time. BUT then Danielle came in. She was both sexy & sweet, a bad girl AND a good girl, and she didn't just allow men (or Matthew at least) to see her for just her body. She had dreams and aspirations other than simply wanting a man-Matthew. However, after Matthew found out that she was once a porn star, things went downhill, and Danielle suddenly began wavering between the two overused stereotypes of women as being either a slut/whore or the passive good girl. When Matthew took Danielle to the motel, she began to play the part of slut/whore before storming off. After that, she decided to return to being a porn star simply because Matthew's act of stereotyping made her believe that was all she will ever be-a slut. At this point she begins to change from being the self-assured take-action kind of girl to being passive and allowing men to dictate her life around her. She goes with Kelly (<Male), her old porno director because he tells her it's where she belongs. She doesn't take a more successful director up on his offer to make her a big star because Kelly tells her he's a self-serving dick. And finally, she leaves the life of pornography only after her "knight in shining armor," Matthew, courageously walks into the Porn Awards to tell her that she's better than this, implying that it's unwholesome for her to do. Now I take that to also imply that it is unwholesome because she is a woman, since he has no qualms whatsoever about his male friends (and enemies) participating in such behavior.

     When Danielle does return to Matthew, she loses even more of her voice than she had while back in the Porn business. When Matthew is beaten up by Kelly, Danielle quietly attends to his wounds. When they attend his scholarship dinner, she quietly stands by his side. When they discover that Kelly has taken the money that Matthew was in charge of, Danielle quietly waits for her man to think of a way to raise the money again, instead of calling on her ex-boyfriend/director Kelly to make a deal to get back the money. When Matthew goes through with his plan, Danielle stands silently on the sidelines, seemingly only concerned with experiencing the Prom she was never able to attend.

     So now we're at the end of our movie, and where is Danielle? Where are her dreams and aspirations? We are shown that yes, Matthew was able to make it to his choice college due to all the money he made. But Danielle's dating a millionare now and she has no more worries about the porn community following her, so in the last shot we are shown of dear Danielle she is silently standing by her car on campus waiting for her boyfriend to get out of class (smiling, of course, what trophy-prize wouldn't?).

     She IS a good girl dating a millionaire now. What more could she possibly want? Surely not a college degree or career of her own? At least, that must be what the director thought. Poor Danielle.

     The perks? I must admit, the vulgar, coarse, in-your-face comedy was hillarious. There was a model for a self-confident, assertive, complex young woman for part of the movie, something many mainstream movies won't touch with a ten-foot pole. There was as much "nudity" of men as there was of women, though none were ever truly nude. The hero was allowed to break free of the tough-guy stereotype that so many men are socialized to accept. And finally, the good guy got the girl, even after being beaten up without any acts of defense or retaliation (normally a socialized must for every male in American society).