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Matthew Kidman (Emile Hirsch) is a high school student and he is also a straight laced overachiever. Matthew never really lived life until he falls for his hot new neighbor (Elisha Cuthbert). But Matthew and his new neighbor have a nice relationship going until Matthew's close friend (Chris Marquette) discover that Matthew's girlfriend is a former porn star. Matthew's sheltered existence spins out of control.

Directed by Luke Greenfield (The Animal) made an fresh, somewhat original High-School/Romantic outrageous comedy. Hirsch is a young likable leading man. Cuthbert is simply beautiful. The film's scene stealing performance is Timothy Olyphant as a Porn's Producer. The film also stars:James Remar (The Warriors) and Paul Dano (L.I.E.) in nice supporting roles.

DVD gas an sharp anamorphic Widescreen (1.85:1) transfer (Also in Pan & Scan) and an fine-Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. DVD also has an commentary track by the director and a trivia track.

The Unrated DVD has the same Widescreen transfer and sound quality with the same commentary track by the director and a trivia track. The DVD new features are a behind the scenes featurette, an extremely funny featurette, a hilarious hidden feature and more. Some people might call this "Risky Business" meets "American Pie". But this is a good hearted wild comedy. Do not miss this. Screenplay by Staurt Blumberg (Keeping the Faith), David T. Wagner (National Lampoon's Van Wilder) and Brent Goldberg (Underclassmen). From a story by Wagner and Goldberg. (****/*****).

The movie starts with all the vibes of a classic teenage movie with high school prom, football events, popular kids vs unpopular etc.... but after Danielle(the girl on the poster) starts to establish herself in the movie everything changes..... The story becomes original by using sexy situations in a different, more naive ways, showing the love between a senior in high school and a young girl with an interesting past through some weird situations.

It's a funny sexy comedy with actors well guided by the director. Feels like a better edition of american pie movies and i think is oriented on the same audience.

I went in for what I thought would be the typical teen rom-com of the early 2000s, with the usual pattern (common to many movies actually): 1. Protagonist isn't satisficed with their situation 2. Something unexpected happens and things are starting to get better 3. When things are good they start falling apart, culminating with a real bad thing leaving them worst off than when they started but 4. In the last act they figure out what went wrong and fix everything; happy ending. That movie went through that cycle twice when I realized I was only halfway through and I really didn't know where they were going with it, which was refreshing. The story is fairly original, and the actors are all doing a decent job. Fun, entertaining, and original; recommended!

Responsibility for "The Girl Next Door"'s poor performance at the US box office - as well as over here - can be laid firmly at the feet of Twentieth Century Fox's marketing people; the tagline "Matt never saw her coming - but all his friends had!" made it seem like a full-on sex comedy, when it's actually a lot more than that; director Luke Greenfield and writers Stuart Blumberg, David T. Wagner and Brent Goldberg put more emphasis on the characters than the raunch, which makes all the difference. There's more to the movie than the sight of Elisha Cuthbert in a thong (in interviews she revealed that it is indeed her there... if not elsewhere in the movie).

The debt this movie owes to "Risky Business" - starting with the score by ex-Tangerine Dream member Paul Haslinger (Tangerine Dream scored "Risky Business") - is pretty clear; both movies have bright but slightly life-challenged graduate students given to fantasising about things that go wrong as their main characters (step forward Emile Hirsch as the sympathetic hero), both have sex-obsessed best friends, both have women in the sex business as the main female characters who come into the hero's uptight life and help to liberate him, and both have sleazy male bosses (Timothy Olyphant plays the Guido equivalent). The movie also has the same mostly restrained view of its story where other movies would have played up the farce aspects - the only real hi-jinks come when the movie's plot takes in the Adult Film Convention in Las Vegas - but "The Girl Next Door" is a lot more engaging and has a lot more heart than "Risky Business" (good though that movie is, charm is not its strong point), with the title character seen as more of a person than a masturbatory object both by our hero and by the movie. When she goes with a motel with him and starts to play up The Porn Star, you really hope they don't go through with it.

The mood set up in the early stages is so convincing that when Olyphant's porn producer character turns up the movie seems to turn into another one entirely (and if you go to see this because of Elisha's "one for the men" status, I must warn you that she spends alarming amounts of time off-screen); it's still a good one, but it damages the overall movie's tone, and for most of the rest of the movie it veers back and forth between sweet and sleazy... but the amazing thing is that "The Girl Next Door" actually manages to find a happy balance of the two by the time the prom climax arrives (with more echoes of "Risky Business" en route, for sure).

True, there's no actual sex seen and little nudity, but the cast works so well and the movie's so sincere that by the end it doesn't seem like a ripoff. With good use of songs blending with the score, well-done fantasy sequences, and a welcome dose of intelligence in its writing, "The Girl Next Door" is probably the most adorable movie to get an R rating since "Pretty Woman," and well worth seeing even if you don't have a thing for Kim off "24." But this isn't for the "Daily Sport" crowd. Which is their loss.

"The juice was worth the squeeze."

THE GIRL NEXT DOOR, Luke Greenfield's sexy yet sweet teen angst flick, owes a lot to both the RISKY BUSINESS premise (HS Senior, his goal a prestigious college, has his life turned 'upside-down' by world-wise 'Pro'), and the internal structure of John Hughes' 80's teen 'classics' (geeky hero, and his two geekier friends, gain acceptance and prestige through his relationship with a 'dream girl').

Close your eyes, and you could easily picture the young Anthony Michael Hall or John Cusack filling Emile Hirsch's role, with Rebecca De Mornay or Kelly Preston replacing Elisha Cuthbert as his ex-porn star girlfriend. THE GIRL NEXT DOOR, however, actually works quite well, thanks to Greenfield's 'tongue-in-cheek' approach to the naughtiness, and a flawless supporting cast, particularly Timothy Olyphant as a likable but ultimately ruthless porn producer, and Timothy Bottoms and Donna Bullock, as Hirsch's clueless but blindly supportive parents.

Emile Hirsch shows a propensity towards 'soulfully earnest' expressions, but does provide one of the film's funniest scenes, as, while high on Ecstasy, he attempts to navigate through a crowd awaiting his speech on 'high moral fiber'. While some critics tended to brush off Elisha Cuthbert's performance as just another skin-baring 'boy toy' variation, she actually conveys the vulnerability and pain of her character's past quite effectively, balancing it with sly humor and a LOT of 'sex appeal', done within the restraints of her "No Nudity" contract clause...Sorry, guys, while you'll see a LOT of her skin, you AREN'T going to see Elisha 'bare all'...

The film is a very funny, breezy lark, and while it never achieves the heights of insanity of RISKY BUSINESS, it certainly stands as one of the better 'teen' comedies of the past few years!