The Girl Next Door
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation | Release Date: April 9, 2004 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
47
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 32 Critic Reviews
Positive:
13
Mixed:
11
Negative:
8
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Builds up enough good will during its successful first half that we're willing to forgive some of the strange and disappointing convolutions the plot takes us through during the final 45 minutes. Read full review
75
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
Once in a very long while, a truly memorable romantic teen comedy comes along. The Girl Next Door is one. Read full review
75
USA TodayMike Clark
A mildly satirical but essentially sweet, benign comedy. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
An exceptionally well-written script, full of unexpected turns and clever reversals, and a trio of deft actors in the principal roles. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterSheri Linden
Sharp, vivacious comedy. Read full review
70
Dallas ObserverLuke Y. Thompson
Best of all, in this movie about high school boys, the high school boys sound and look quite authentic (Paul Dano and Chris Marquette are outstanding in this regard), not watered down as would be the norm. Read full review
70
Washington PostDesson Thomson
An entertaining affair whose wild-card creativity never ceases to surprise. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
"Risky Business" had a great opening act and then descended into contrivances. This genial cardboard knockoff is contrived from the start but gets better as it goes along. Read full review
67
Portland OregonianM. E. Russell
A pleasant surprise. It's not without its problems, but it's character-driven, funny and, if not dark, then at least a pleasant shade of gray -- with tremendous performances by Hirsch and Olyphant. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneAllison Benedikt
In the end it's not the tricks that elevate this movie. It's the acting. Read full review
63
New York PostJonathan Foreman
Though shamelessly derivative and amoral, The Girl Next Door is nevertheless funnier and smarter than most of the pathetic dreck aimed at the nation's teens. Read full review
63
PremiereLaine Ewen
The film's lack of focus leaves most, if not all, of the characters just a hair less developed than they should have been; the plot holes just a bit more conspicuous than they might have been; and the ending just a touch less poignant than it could have been. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
The mainstream prominence of pornography gets a shove forward with the teen comedy, The Girl Next Door, an improbably-not-terrible teen sex comedy. Read full review
60
Film ThreatClint Morris
It's got everything the genre calls for – boppy music, cute boys, cute girls, lots of sexual lingo, and most importantly, laughs. Read full review
60
VarietyJoe Leydon
A tickle-and-tease teen sex comedy that plays like a late-night channel-surf through soft-core sitcoms, "American Pie" wannabes and '80s Brat Pack romances. Read full review
60
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
It sputters whenever it has to move the story along, and it too often forgets to pay attention to Cuthbert; it makes a point about the mistake of treating women as sex objects, but it's perfectly content to use her as a plot device for the second and third acts. Read full review
60
SlateDavid Edelstein
The film is seamlessly made, its mood balanced dreamily between sexy-funny and sexy-scary. Read full review
60
EmpireScott Russon
It has managed, admirably, to strike a balance between the wholesome 'school nerd blossoms' fairy tale and the gross-out comedy that is now a teen movie standard. Read full review
50
Village VoiceJessica Winter
Begins with the same deathless question that has bedeviled generations of teenagers: how to fill the space allotted to graduating seniors for memories and shout-outs at the back of their yearbook? Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Olyphant steals the show as a cheeky porn producer. The rest is gimmicky and predictable, except for a clever surprise near the end. Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineEthan Alter
The film has a certain easygoing charm, choppiness notwithstanding, and delivers several big laughs; if leads Cuthbert and Hirsch were as charismatic as scene-stealing supporting players Olyphant and Marquette, it might have joined the ranks of memorable teen comedies. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleKimberley Jones
Until Hollywood stops being a boys club, and America graduates beyond short pants and its embarrassingly pubescent attitudes toward sex, I suppose one can only hope that all male adolescent fantasies will play as goofily sweet as this one. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
What is disturbing and frankly distasteful about The Girl Next Door is how slick and shameless it is in its eagerness to blur boundaries, to squeeze as much transgressive material as it can into a nominally bland and innocent form, to serve up a benign, sanitized and exquisitely titillating portrait of the world of pornography in the cozy sheep's clothing of a teenage movie. Read full review
40
SalonCharles Taylor
Lost the friskiness and wildness and charm the movie might have had. Read full review
38
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
The Girl Next Door is to "Risky Business" what near-beer is to beer. If you're desperate for a mild buzz, you might make it do. Read full review
38
Boston GlobeJanice Page
Comes up short when things get serious, resorting to cliches and a whole lot of hooey about "moral fiber." Read full review
30
The New York TimesDana Stevens
Offers a view of pornography that is nonjudgmental, even celebratory, but at the same time its premise -- that Danielle must be rescued from the shame and degradation of her old job -- suggests a more traditional, disapproving point of view. Instead of addressing this contradiction, the movie is happy to wallow in it, which would be fine if it had any real pleasure to offer. Read full review
30
Washington PostMark Jenkins
Nothing in this film makes any sense, and Stuart Blumberg, David T. Wagner and Brent Goldberg's script merely gets more preposterous as it elaborates on its implausible premise. Read full review
30
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
This comedy is an ill-fated attempt to remake "Risky Business" (1983) for the 21st century, complete with a wind-chimey score, the hero posing in his underpants, and a cynical happy ending. Read full review
25
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Director Luke Greenfield, the auteur behind "The Animal," starring Rob Schneider, wants to pass off this limp-dick farce as social satire. Ha! Read full review
25
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
Favors giggly juvenile humor over inspired satire and ends up not with a moral, but a moral vacuum. Read full review
12
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
This is a dishonest, quease-inducing "comedy" that had me feeling uneasy and then unclean. Who in the world read this script and thought it was acceptable? Read full review
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