It is difficult to decide what exactly to take from "The Girl Next Door." The basic premise is simple enough: a responsible high school senior named Matthew (Emile Hirsch), who is also the class president, finds his last year before he goes off to college to be less than he imagined it to be. That is, until the girl next door walks into his life.
When Danielle (Elisha Cuthbert) moves into the room across from Matthew's window, his life changes in ways beyond what he could have imagined. It is only a matter of time before Matthew is thoroughly respected by those who used to reign over him in the high school scene. The catch? Danielle is a porn star. Hijinks ensue as Matthew comes to terms with her career and Danielle comes to terms with her relationship with Matthew.
"The Girl Next Door" has been marketed with perhaps the perfect tagline: "Matt never saw her coming ... but all his friends had!" This is perfect because it sums up the exact volume of meaningful narrative in one sentence. This movie is squarely targeted at testosterone-fueled high school kids who probably aren't old enough to beat the R rating.
It's surprisingly good for this kind of movie, because it's remarkably devoid of bad acting. Leading the all-round list of good performances are Chris Marquette as Eli and Timothy Olyphant as Kelly. The movie also avoids bad cinematography and timing and represents an improvement over director Luke Greenfield's last movie, "The Animal." Even the plot of "The Girl Next Door" isn't half bad. It keeps the viewer interested because there isn't one definitive point to it, although the movie goes on for a little too long.
There is a good smattering of nudity throughout the movie to satisfy the target market and a good volume of humor to justify a rental. "The Girl Next Door" succeeds in its aims because it doesn't try to be anything more. It remains a type of movie that apparently didn't end with films like 1989's "Loverboy" and 1991's "Ski School." It will be worth a rent when it hits shelves because it is a decent comedy. For those hoping to see Cuthbert nude, don't bother.
