Jody, l'innocence du mal

Everything about this movie - from the script and dialogue to the performances - is hilariously unsubtle. The girl's "evil" performance doesn't ring true for a minute (she squints her eyes and makes faces to show she's angry, and she makes Freddy Krueger-ish wisecracks right after her killings - "Divorce this!", "You're dead meat", "Goodnight grandma", that sort of thing). If almost every character in the movie wasn't a complete moron, there wouldn't have been a movie - they would have realized the plainly obvious and punched the little brat in the face! Nonetheless, as bad as this movie is, it is directed with a certain professionalism that at least keeps it watchable. (**)

As is probably obvious from my past reviews, I have a weak spot for both Slasher and Bad Seed genre flicks. What I really liked about "Daddy's Girl" was that it violated a lot of my expectations and especially the formula that many BS movies (kind of an appropriate abbreviation) have followed in recent years, most notably the wildly overrated and amazingly dumb "Orphan."

Let's be real for a second. Yes, I know this is a Pierre David production, which almost spells HACKFLICK at the starting gate. This isn't an A-grade production. The acting is OK...it's competent, as is the direction. You're not going to get an Oscar worthy film that blows your doors off or even something as stylized as Fatal Attraction. It does, however, manage to keep your attention, and I believe that's largely due to Steve Pesce's script, which is more well-researched and plotted than this class of picture usually deserves.

Unlike the reviewer who raved about the script being abysmal, I thought there was a very logical progression to the problem child's (Gabrielle Boni) psychosis. Her back-story synced up well with her behaviors and motivations and she isn't presented for the first third of the film as a raving, terminally evil, maniacal psycho. Sure, she's got maladaptive behaviors, but the triggers for these behaviors turning lethal are plausible --- at least to an developing, unstable mind.

In addition, there are many twists that occur which you don't see coming and many false leads. And the kills are, while not 100% bulletproof, pretty damn clever and well within the means of a capable (and motivated) child.

To top it off, It doesn't end in the usual way, either. It's a strange ending, in that it doesn't hit any of the usual horror movie clichés.

And that's overall why I'd recommend it. Many have commented that Rosi's performance is one-note, horrible, and hammy --- I'd say it's pretty close to dead on considering how unstable her character is supposed to be. It's not an "actorly" or polished performance and that actually feels right here. Yes, she spouts villain one liners but....maybe she watches a lot of Bad Seed movies.

I love thrillers anyway and can usually be found surfing the dial for something dark and creepy to watch. But what's so weird about this flick is it's all shot in daylight. Everything is white and shining and happy. It's like a Disney flick. The people even talk like it's a TV movie. But then the little girl is offing people. It's very twisted. I Dig where the little girl's coming from. I think I was routing for her! Actually I think she's the one we're supposed to route for. I like flickers that make oddball choices, so I enjoyed it. Check it

This film has a lot of potential, however fails to impress due to the poorly written script.

Scenes are very drawn out, and so there is an extremely minute degree of suspense in the whole movie. It is obvious what Jodi is going to do to each victim by the middle of the film.

The mystery of the child's past is not drawn upon to develop a stronger background to the character of Jodi. Unfortunately, this doesn't give the child actor much to work with, and thus, the protagonists' performance is extremely wooden.

The supporting actors have so little to work with with regards to material, that the whole thing falls apart because of the lack of backbone in direction.

To the actors' credits, for an obscenely banal script, their performances were good.

So there I was. I'd been trying to get to sleep for nearly two hours, and so I turned on the tv. Grace Under Fire was just ending, and as my clock turned 3, _Daddy's Girl_ came on. I hit sleep/20 minutes on my remote and took off my glasses, expecting to pass out soon. Well, now it's well after 5am, and I'm stillup writing this, so you tell me what that means. Anyhow, _Daddy's Girl_ tells the touching story of young Jody, a girl who has been tossed around foster families for her entire life. Her current family loves her, but she really loves her father. She perceives everyone as a threat to take her away from her father, and, as any girl in the same situation would do, kills them all. Yep, school principal, grandmother, mother, adoption counselor -- she even attempts to kill her meddling cousin. This movie has some of the cheesiest and stilted dialogue I've ever had the pleasure to see. Through all the porno commercials and ads for the psychic friends ("Your husband is cheating on you." "Thanks so much! I'm so glad I called!"... I don't know about you, but if I called the psychic friends and they told me that, I'd be pretty upset and maybe go on a rampage like little Jody!), _Daddy's Girl_ kept me from turning the tv off, and so now I've been up all night, and I'll likely be up for another 20 some hours before I finally go to sleep. Kudos to the cast and crew of this film for making some of the finest garbage I've ever had the pleasure to view on network tv at 3am!