ALL THE REAL GIRLS ------------------
Paul (Paul Schneider, "George Washington") is a 22 year old guy drifting through life and one woman after the next in the small North Carolina mill town he lives in with his mother (Patricia Clarkson, "Far From Heaven"). When his best friend Tip's (Shea Wingham, "Bad Company") eighteen year old sister (Zooey Deschanel, "Abandon") returns home from boarding school, Paul's attitude towards women undergoes a dramatic change in writer/director David Gordon Greene's "All the Real Girls."
Gordon Greene, who won a 2003 Sundance Special Jury prize for "Emotional Honesty," suffers some sophomore slumping with his followup to "George Washington" and hot young actress Deschanel fails to make her first lead her breakthrough. "All the Real Girls" gets the central relationship right, but surrounds it with vignettes that are meaningless, confusing or too damn quirky for their own good.
Paul hangs out with his buddies Tip, Bust-Ass (Danny McBride) and Bo (Maurice Compte, "Showtime") and works at his Uncle Leland's (Benjamin Mouton, "The Whole Wide World") garage. Paul's interest in Noel sends Tip, who takes pride in their love 'em and leave 'em ethos, into a rage which splinters the male camaraderie, but Paul's mostly interested in spending time with Noel now anyway. Paul and Noel seem to bring out the best in each other and fall into comfortable conversation. Honoring the realness of the relationship, Paul takes things slowly, postponing sex, perhaps subconsciously recognizing the fragility of love. Noel orchestrates isolated settings suited for advancing the physical side of things, but doesn't push the issue. When Noel goes away to a girlfriend's vacation cabin, Paul misses her with her young brother and reconnects with Tip, who, having just learned he's about to become a father, is reflecting Paul's new found maturity. The Noel that returns, however, is not the same girl who left and the two discover that true love alone cannot sustain a relationship.
While it's a bit of a stretch to regard Schneider as the insensitive ladykiller he's cast as, the actor very capably takes us on a painful interior journey. We see him awaken and respond to Noel's way of questioning the world and slow down to take stock of past behavior. 'I want you to understand what they hate when they see me,' he tells Noel of his past girlfriends, laying down the truth before attempting to advance beyond it. Deschanel's portrayal of Noel is certainly natural and she projects a naive worldliness that differentiates her from her peers, but she's too low key, almost draining energy from the scenes she's in.
The supporting cast all assist in creating the small town world with Wingham and particularly McBride the standouts. Wingham, who looks like a young Bill Pullman with a Beavis haircut, is initially all hurt, confused bluster which he contrasts nicely with dawning comprehension in his terrific scene rebonding with Paul. McBride is the comic relief as buddy Bust-Ass, who makes do with Noel's friendship while he waits in the wings for something more. The usually terrific Clarkson, while nailing the worn down quality of a middle aged woman whose watched life's options disappear, is given a raw deal by the script which literally makes her a clown. A nicely played scene with Schneider is undone when Clarkson must inexplicably tell him she doesn't believe his happiness.
Gordon Greene shows his weakness for artistic whimsy by conspicuously never naming his two lead characters within his film, although the end credits identify them as Paul and Noel. The conceit is awkward, with 'the boy's' mother referring to the love of his life as 'the girl.' His short mood bursts may work as standalone bits, but are frequently awkward within the film's context or cases of non sequitur editing (what's up with the deformed dog?). Elvira presses Paul to put on a clown suit and join her entertaining a children's hospital ward and the scene has a weird vibe of its own, beautifully scored, but it has no connection to the rest of the movie. Paul and Noel share an offbeat lovers' moment in a bowling alley, but the scene doesn't work because it is so artificially staged. A nicely written piece of dialogue about mistakes in nature shows up a cute scene between Paul and his dog later in the film.
Cinematographer Tim Orr ("George Washington") captures scenes reminiscent of "Stand By Me" and "Diner" before giving way to lots of time lapse shots of clouds barreling across the sky. Location is a major player as it was in "George Washington."
"All the Real Girls" is a disappointment but the boy at its heart embodies true emotions.
B-
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