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Timothy Hutton (Ordinary People) heads up an ensemble cast in this warm and funny comedy/drama from director Ted Demme (The Ref) and screenwriter Scott Rosenberg (Venom, Disturbing Behavior). Hutton’s a Chicago piano-player returning to his small, blue-collar hometown for his ten-year high school reunion. He’s nervous about getting married in the near future, feeling as though it marks the end of the fun ‘getting to know you’ stage of relationships and the beginning the long ‘big fade’.
His old pals have their own problems with love. While Noah Emmerich is happily married with children, Matt Dillon is on the verge of losing Mira Sorvino if he doesn’t stop porking a married woman (Lauren Holly) on the side. Meanwhile, Michael Rapaport is consumed with jealousy because Martha Plimpton is dating the town’s butcher (even though she’s vegetarian). Over the course of a few days, and with visits from several supporting players, each of the men make decisions that both hinder and help their romantic pursuits.
Beautiful Girls is an easy-going ‘slice of life’ movie — the kind that can easily fall apart without a strong script and a great cast. Rosenberg’s script strikes a winning balance. It’s funny without trying too hard, and poignant without overplaying any of the drama. The film is full of honest, truthful moments about men and women. It rightly criticizes a lot of common male behavior and attitudes in a refreshing, constructive way. The bottom line seems to be that men often torture themselves by clinging to unobtainable, unrealistic expectations with women, when perfectly wonderful women are usually right under their noses.
This film is cast to the nines. All the aforementioned actors do fine jobs, but a few supporting players steal the show. Future Oscar-winner Natalie Portman (Black Swan) gives a surprising, award-worthy performance as Hutton’s thirteen-year-old neighbor, a highly intelligent and perceptive girl who essentially makes a pass at Hutton. Their relationship, with its low-key Lolita implications, is the film’s most intellectual and interesting. Uma Thurman is also memorable as a gorgeous, down-to-earth tomboy who’s able to pal around with the men in spite of their obvious attraction to her. Her genuinely sweet character manages to effectively teach the guys some valuable lessons. Other notable cast members include Rosie O’Donnell as the most humorously caustic woman in the men’s lives, and Annabeth Gish as Hutton’s girlfriend. Gish’s anticipated late arrival is the film’s ‘ticking clock’, a subtle, unspoken deadline by which Hutton’s character needs to decide if he’s ready to grow-up and commit.
In addition to a great cast and a solid script, Beautiful Girls also boasts a good soundtrack of pop tunes and a snowed-in, winter setting that makes two hours with these characters all the more cozy.
With David Arquette, Max Perlich, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Anne Bobby, and Sam Robards.