L'altra faccia di Beverly Hills

This is a Jewish movie with the missing mom being a really key component. In the scene with Viv looking at the remote figure of the mom with two daughters as they leave to go shopping -- even (or especially) this mom who says big breasts are out of date, and who has provided her daughter with a nose job -- there is clear yearning for and respect for a mother. And in the responsibilities Viv is given and which she takes pretty courageously i'd say, she is a little mother to her family. Cousin Rita Abramovitz, on the other hand, is a female disaster, and Marisa Tomei's performance is spot on. Again, not comic. Human feeling and weakness showing through veneer of sexual energy. Our culture provides for sex first. Sex sells. There's a temporary sense of power, but this is not what people are. And Tomei gets that across. She disentigrates into illness. Elliott the pot dealer is drawn with accuracy and tenderness, recalling people i knew back then and illuminating them for me. The scene that was key for me in this motion picture is the father at his restaurant(with hair on his head in a lovely flashback)dealing with his cook. The meat. Could move the setting from Beverly Hills to the LaBrea tarpits . . . watching living creatures thrash and sink in the black goo of materialism.

"Slums" is one of the more underrated films of the 1990s. It seems to rub some people the wrong way for unclear reasons, but I found it to be touching and hilarious from start to finish. Perhaps I'm just a sucker for Alan Arkin, whom I've always liked, and see on screen all to infrequently. More likely I was impressed by the witty script, deft direction and solid cast. I especially appreciated the spot-on portrayal of Southern California during the mid-70s, which just happens to be the era when I migrated from "back East" to Los Angeles. Fortunately, we weren't as hapless as the Abramowitz family, who throughout this film are trying desperately to hang onto the ragged edge of the good life.

This is one "coming of age" story that you don't need to be a teenage girl to enjoy.

i'm not quite sure exactly why i like this film but as the credits rolled i was smiling nonetheless. the orange/brown/pea-soup green 70's setting of it was one of the things i found authentic and quirky about it. the whole texture of the movies seems saturated by that awful color scheme, as though the whole world is being invaded and lorded over by kitsch. another more base reason is the infinitely watchable natasha lyonne as the blossomed teenager coping with an increasingly unstable world. first her family life and now even her body seem to follow wild and unpredictable spurts. she is obviously quite attractive and i would say the best actor/actress to come out of the American pie bunch and thus not surprisingly the most overlooked. the characters all seem believable to the point that one has to understand that some biographical elements are playing heavily into the story. that said brings to mind the old adage that truth is often stranger than fiction, and in this case it also is more entertaining.

7 out of 10

The Slums of Beverly Hills is a coming-of-age story from the perspective of a young girl. Vivian, the protagonist, is the pubescent member of a roving band of urban gypsies in 1976 Beverly Hills. The band consists solely of her divorcee father, and two brothers; one older and one younger. They don't roam far, just in the confines of the Beverly Hills school district. They are joined by a rehab-fleeing, neurotic female cousin, who becomes a guide for the young Vivian, leading her through the sexual-emotional vicissitudes of teenagerdom. Very clever, and also very heartfelt, The Slums of Beverly Hills really connected with me. I felt for the family. The acting is top flight and this makes up for some grating story lapses. When in the mood for a comedy I highly recommend this movie.

This semi-autobiographical story follows a lower-middle-class teenager (Natasha Lyonne) and her neurotic family in 1976 Tinseltown.

I love that this had Alan Arkin, a small role for Mena Suvari and a key starring role for Marisa Tomei. They nailed the 1970s, at least what I picture the 1970s to be. Not sure this is a lost classic. Some are calling it a cult classic, but I was not quite impressed enough to recommend it to others.

Roger Ebert wrote, "Lyonne has the film's most important role, and is the key to the comedy. She does a good job of looking incredulous, and there's a lot in her life to be incredulous about. She also has a nice pragmatic approach to sexuality, as in a scene where she consults a plastic surgeon about on-the-spot breast reduction." Ebert was more impressed than I was, granting the film three stars.