A Clean Sweep

thesar-2

What a find. I hated the title Dirty Girl (10/10 Stars) so much, I didn't want to see it. And even following this viewing, I still felt it needed a better name so that more people would see it.

But, I read a little about it, and even 'like'd the star's, Jeremy Dozier, page on Facebook following my research and prior to seeing the movie. Then, I dove into what I will proudly say: this was one of the best movie's I've seen. (This…coming from one of the pickiest critics I know.)

I'm guessing Dirty Girl is supposed to be an "indie" film, but heavens, it feels a lot larger than that. I mean, for one, look at the cast: Milla Jovovich, Mary Steenburgen, Dwight Yoakam, William H. Macy (as a gasp!... Mormon), Nicolas D'Agosto, Tim McGraw, and a few other minor surprises. Even for an indie, you're lucky to get one big name to help promote your movie; this has at least half a dozen. And beyond the actors, the grand production value and direction screams a budget 10x the size of most independent films.

Okay, past the stars and professional filmmaking, we have first-timer Dozier, who was fantastic and equally great: a seemingly younger-version, but far sexier, of Christina Applegate, Juno Temple. They both, apparently, are great friends beyond the camera and despite Temple's character, thee dirty girl, Danielle treating him fairly awful throughout the movie, they had excellent chemistry.

The story's fresh, original and fun. The jokes are laugh-out-loud – my favorite running-gag was the bag of child with her facial expressions. And the emotions run deep. Oh, and soundtrack was a great homage to the 1980s.

Sure, there are plenty of 1980s renditions out there, i.e. the wildly inferior Take Me Home Tonight, but this one not only put be back to the future (of the time), it didn't over do it. No need. It's set in the 1980s, so be it. (Sorry, that was a 1990 reference of Pump up the Volume…but still…) It was a very nice backdrop, such as the hair and the incredible music.

Basically, the movie boils down to mean-slut Danielle who forced into a partnership with fellow high school student, Clarke, who happens to be gay. Allow me to stop the synopsis right there…just for those who don't know, being an out teen in the 1980s was NOT the accepted preference as it is today, or even in the early 1990s. So, I can completely empathize with this character dancing around his sexuality, even though, for the most part he's a free spirit.

I digress. After a hilarious series of events, Danielle learns her long-since abandoned father lives a mere couple of states over in California and she and Clarke team up to go and meet him.

Road Trip Movie? Not really. This is much more brilliant than that. There are just so many more layers to this as a whole to reduce it to that level.

While hardly any movie's perfect – Clarke's enormously homophobic ass of a father finding them on their journey a couple of times was a little too much of a stretch – this one comes very close. I can't wait to see it again. This only happens in my viewing experiences when I see sincerity in both the writers and especially the actors on screen. I need to see someone put their heart in a project and I need to see originality as well as people that believe in their product. You'll find that here. I give it my highest recommendation…and I have already passed the word onto my friends so more people will see this hidden treasure.

Side Note: Sure, I understand the simple title; it's stated throughout the movie as "no one wants to be a 'dirty girl.'" But, I still think the movie would've been best served with a more deserving title that wouldn't typically be proceeded with: "National Lampoon's."

score 10/10

thesar-2 17 January 2012

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw2551013/