The Girl Next Door
There's someone peeping through windows so Arthur has been asked to watch the neighbour's eighteen year old daughter while her parents are away. Soon their mutual attraction develops into something that Arthur later regrets.
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- Cast:
- Henry Czerny , Simon MacCorkindale , Gary Busey , Alberta Watson , Polly Shannon , Robin Gammell , Janet-Laine Green
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Reviews
Highly Overrated But Still Good
Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.
Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.
An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.
A rating of 4.5 is absurdly low for this genuine and uncomplicated little study of a gentle doctor's emotional deconstruction after having (although quite understandably) overstepped the line whilst baby-sitting his neighbor's 18 year old daughter and who tragically is murdered - with each and every clue about to incriminate him.Whodunnit really doesn't matter - the denouement is hardly a surprise anyway, as no one else in the picture has the slightest motive! The strength of this little Canadian offering lies in both Czerney's performance as the harried Doctor Bradley and ultra cute Polly Shannon as the 18 year old schoolgirl that Bradley has known and doctored since she was little. This isn't a hot sexy saga of lust in the dust...just an outline of a very credible set of circumstances that could easily lead to such a tragedy.Contrary to several reviewers, I don't see the script as trite and unbelievable. The story at no time strives to be "Hollywoodish." What you see is very much what you get! Totally believable performances. I think faced with the exact same circumstances Czerny was....I might well have fallen into the same pit he did..and lived to regret the action, but not the evening!Easily a 6! Very solid little contribution from Busey which I think he handled with both sensitivity and restraint.There are many films in the IMDb top 250 I would less prefer to watch again!
Possible Spoilers Ahead!!Where shall we start? Take every possible cliche that you can think of and add a pinch of hack dialog, stir in average acting (with the exception of the usually entertaining Gary Busey)and you have this potpourri of garbage. To top it all off you can include an actress that is "supposed" to be 18 who looks much older (Shades of Beverly Hills 90210). All of the characters' behaviors run the gamut from ridiculous (throwing a party and allowing the person who has been threatening you to attend without giving it a second thought) to reprehensible. There are no characters that are even mildly likeable, which renders this exercise in film futility a complete waste of time. Please save 90 minutes of your life that would be better spent watching your grass grow.
This movie kept my interest till the end,more than most Canadian movies which tend to be mediocre.The acting,though was sub standard.Overall, a good popcorn home video for Saturday night.If I wasn't interested in "who done it" I would have turned it off because of the bad acting!!
I loved this movie, I gave it a 10. I thought it was filmed well, very beautiful colors in the movie, especially the rain and the trees. I thought that the plot was WONDERFUL, the acting was good. I thought this movie was going to be bad, because it was on HBO late at night. But I was wrong, I watched this one twice. Has enough thrills and action to keep you watching, and also the acting was not what you would expect!