Beautiful Girls

''Birdman'' and his hopeless mate Kev support themselves by shoveling snow in the small town of Knight's Ridge. Birdman's best time in life was during high school, when he was a sports star and the coolest guy in school. Everything is different today. He is still respected for his old achievements, but for all that he still shovels snow to pay his rent. His girlfriend from high school, Darian, fled the small town and is now married to a yuppie. One winter's day she returns home together with her husband and daughter which shows Birdman as an even more pathetic figure, not least in his own eyes. Birdman and Kev have another snow-shoveling friend, Paul. He lives with Birdman and is fanatically interested in super-models and the perfect woman. The fourth member of the gang is the married Mo, who has realized how monotonous and hopeless their lives are and is looking forward to the return of Willie. Willie was once a member of the gang, but unlike the others he was ambitious and succeeded in getting out into the world. Willie is a piano player and is returning home, as is Darian, to attend a class reunion at the high school. His yearning for change, which once made him leave town, has turned against him and led to frustration. His girlfriend wants him to get a decent job as a salesman instead of his present bohemian life. The meeting with his home town and its beautiful women makes his life in New York seem very distant and not at all as wonderful as he once thought it would be. Beautiful Girls is an ensemble-comedy with a very funny script, which does justice to some of America's best young actors. The gang of losers at the centre of the film is a gripping collection of pleasant, but bothersome guys who have put themselves into situations they do not understand and cannot manage. Opposite this group we see a collection of beautiful and more talented women. In the impressive cast we can especially single out Timothy Hutton, as Willie, and Natalie Portman as Willie's 13-year-old neighbour. Her character is, as she is herself, still an innocent teenager, though well on her way to becoming a fully-fledged heart breaker. Ted Demme's film has many funny sequences and good acting, but it will be remembered, above all, for the scenes between Hutton and Portman. They are small triumphs for Demme's character direction and are at the absolute heart of the film. MR

Premiärstatus
Svensk premiär: Medverkande
Timothy Hutton, Matt Dillon, Uma Thurman: Producent
Cary Woods: Manus
Scott Rosenberg: Foto
Adam Kimmel: Musik
David A. Stewart: Talat språk
English