Girl

Widescreen anamorphic, 1.85:1, and a full screen version
Full-length director commentary, with Dominique Swain
Making-of featurette

It is one of those coming-of-age flicks that is narrated throughout by the central character, but the visual action in the film doesn't really support the narration. The narration provides an ironic counterpoint to what we can see with our own eyes. Sometimes the main character tells us what she is thinking or what she feels she should say, before she actually says something completely different. At other times, we see that she simply misinterprets what is going on, and her narration represents what she would like the world to be like, as opposed to what it is really like.

A virginal straight-A student bound for Brown University experiences a case of the adolescent crazies in her senior year of high school, and somehow becomes infatuated with a soulful local Kurt Cobain wannabee. In her introspection, she struggled with the reasons why her usually sensible self was seeing things in such a distorted way, abandoning her old friends, and suddenly sleeping with a grunge rocker.

If you like "My So-Called Life", or "Pete and Pete", you'll probably find that this is traveling in familiar territory.

The Critics Vote

filmcritic.com 3/5

The People Vote ...

With their votes ... IMDB summary: IMDb voters score it 5.8

IMDb guideline: 7.5 usually indicates a level of excellence, about like three and a half stars from the critics. 6.0 usually indicates lukewarm watchability, about like two and a half stars from the critics. The fives are generally not worthwhile unless they are really your kind of material, about like two stars from the critics. Films under five are generally awful even if you like that kind of film, equivalent to about one and a half stars from the critics or less, depending on just how far below five the rating is.

My own guideline: A means the movie is so good it will appeal to you even if you hate the genre. B means the movie is not good enough to win you over if you hate the genre, but is good enough to do so if you have an open mind about this type of film. C means it will only appeal to genre addicts, and has no crossover appeal. D means you'll hate it even if you like the genre. E means that you'll hate it even if you love the genre. F means that the film is not only unappealing across-the-board, but technically inept as well.

Based on this description, this film is a C.