First love is one of the great universal experiences. At some time in just about everyone’s life, there is a time when he or she falls head over heels in love with someone else in a way that feels completely new and exciting. When you’re in love for the first time, the object of affection is a perfect and ideal creature, and one’s thoughts are dominated by the wonders that await the two young lovers in the days and years to come. Alas, all too often young love is like a delicate orchid which is beautiful in the hand, but when exposed to the harsh light of day will wither. And when that first love has come to an end, we harden ourselves, vowing never to get fooled again.
David Gordon Green’s film All the Real Girls is one of the wisest films about first love I’ve ever seen. The film’s main character, Paul (Paul Schneider), lives in a small town in North Carolina, where he works as a mechanic. He isn’t an innocent; in fact, he has a reputation for sowing his oats among the town’s women. But with Noel (Zooey Deschanel), a younger girl who has just come back to town, it’s different, and for the first time in his life he actually cares deeply for a girl beyond simply the sexual issue. Complicating manners is that fact that Noel is the sister of his best friend Tip (Shea Whigham), who knows Paul’s past and isn’t thrilled about his daughter being another conquest.
Paul’s love for the virginal Noel makes him awkward and shy, almost like a little boy. In the film’s first scene, the two of them are talking, and Paul says that he doesn’t want to kiss her because then if Tip asks him if he’s kissed her he’d have to say yes. Finally, when Noel suggests he kiss her hand, he nervously looks around, just to make sure he’s safe. Gradually, their meetings become more natural, and though Paul is still wary of Tip, he also doesn’t want to treat her like he’s treated the other girls he’s been with. He doesn’t even sleep with her.
Like Green’s previous film, George Washington, All the Real Girls is set in a small, run-down town that offers few choices for those who live there. Jobs are mostly limited to factory workers, mechanics, and waitresses, though Paul’s mother Elvira (Patricia Clarkson) makes money as a clown who visits sick children at the local hospital. Similarly, there are a limited number of avenues for recreation. Most of Paul’s free time is spent either with Noel or with his friends Tip, Bo, and Bustass, drinking and talking. We get the impression that Paul’s past promiscuity was mostly for lack of anything better to do.
But as I said before, Paul doesn’t see Noel that way. His love has made him vulnerable, and when Noel sleeps with another guy while she’s away from him, he feels betrayed. His ideal image of her is shattered by reality, and suddenly his perfect innocent love has become an imperfect woman. His past offenses are reflected in her behavior, and he can’t deal with that.
All the Real Girls is full of strange and wonderful dialogue that doesn’t feel written, but echoes the awkwardness of its characters. Some of it is funny, like when Paul is talking about being “fast as tea” and other similar phrases while hanging out with his friends. Some is oddly romantic, as when Noel is telling Paul about a dream she had- “you grew a garden on a trampoline and I was so happy I invented peanut butter.” And some has the ring of sad truth.
There are two particular monologues that I found especially affecting. The first is when Paul and Noel are still in love, and they go away for a weekend to be together. After she shows him a scar on her hip, she tells a long story about a boating accident when she was young, and Deschanel’s pitch-perfect delivery of the speech, the way she seemed to convey how important a secret this was that she hadn’t told anyone about it before Paul, caused a hush in the audience. Less lengthy, but no less wrenching, is a barroom anecdote Schneider tells to a bitter former girlfriend about a flock of birds crashing into a house, and his telling of it sums up all his regrets in life in a way that makes his subsequent outburst almost redundant.
All the Real Girls is like a rebuke to Hollywood product, to big-budget movies that dominate the first weekend then fade to the background to make way for the next presold blockbuster. Unlike so many of those movies, this one isn’t about shuffling along from incident to incident, but rather about specific characters, settings, and ideas. Even more uniquely, it summons up memories and emotions from audience members who are patient enough to receive the film on its wavelength. All the Real Girls is astute, beautiful, and special.
Writer-director David Gordon Green obliterates the sophomore slump theory with ALL THE REAL GIRLS an achingly sincere drama that captures the complexi...More at Family Video
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.