Beautiful Girls

Ted Demme is a strange little director. So far residing in straight-to-video territory, he nonetheless has made some fine, strange little comedies: Hostile Hostages with Kevin Spacey , Judy Davis and Dennis Leary and Who's The Man? with rap stars Dr.Dre, Ed Lover and again Dennis Leary. Leary pops up again in this one and given a cinema release this time, a cast full of hot actors young and (fairly) old and a cracking, witty script, Demme has popped up again with a film to die for.

Plot: Willie Conway (Hutton - who is so utterly marvellous in films like Ordinary People - Ed.) pops back to his home town for a reunion and begins to realise things have changed somewhat since he was last in town. Still, he can, despite the time lapse, get drunk with his mates Birdman (Dillon), Paul (Rappaport) and the rest. So maybe it all hasn't changed that much. All approaching the thirtysomething era, angst begins to gnaw away at their egos and romances are formed. Pick a job in sales over the late night piano playing in bars? Commit to the long time girlfriend or the seven year itch? Decisions, choices, decision, choices, with the number 30 getting bigger by the day, problems are arising . . .

Ah yes, you may think, another one of those mid-life-crisis flicks. The teen movie grafted onto a twentysomething bunch of friends? Well, shame on you for harbouring such misgivings. The problem with such movies is that they often have a forced quality which betrays their pseudo-apathy. Demme and cast have given this little sub-genre a spark of life. Even with so many characters, not one is left shallow or 2D. All are given suggestions of anxieties, great wit and warmth that raises this movie above the potential typing pitfalls. Timothy Hutton's dialogue with Natalie Portman is sublime, as is Rappaport's with Martha Plimpton - all members of the cast have made this a treat. Moving without being schmaltz, very funny without sensing the hands/eyes behind the pen/camera and intelligent without being smartarse - all hail Demme, screenwriter Scott Rosenberg and the Beautiful Cast of this Beautiful Flick.

Pauline Lak