The film concentrates on a band of classmates who care sex and relationship. Their life becomes chaos when a seductive girl appears. How they deal with serious problem?
Ted Demme's coming of age tale is about guys in their 20s who refuse or are unable to mature, which might explain why the most captivating relationship is between Timothy Hutton and the 13-year-old Natalie Portman.
Does "Beautiful Girls" philosophically aspire to much more than mirroring a Counting Crows lyric from "Mr. Jones?" Maybe not. But there's a barroom eloquence, bottle-bottomed anxiety and stumblebum sadness to it that lingers in its bones.
This startlingly uneventful compendium of thick-headed boy-talk and female tolerance squanders a fine cast on incredibly ordinary characters and situations.
Cinema Crazed
April 29, 2009
Natalie Portman steals all the scenes with Timothy Hutton and lights up the movie...
Demme's conversational film is about the gaping chasm between what men say and what they feel. It may not tell us anything new, but its eloquence is quietly rewarding.
In a relationship that skirts bad taste, Hutton and Portman make tender movie magic, giving this big-screen spin on Friends its only moments of true romantic yearning.
TV Guide
November 27, 2009
Natalie Portman, as a 13-year-old on whom Hutton develops a strangely affecting crush, is a delight.
