Much of the film, which so much wants to seem natural and unforced, comes off as contrived and slightly precious.
All the Real Girls (2003)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:28
Fresh:22
Rotten:6
Average Rating:6.8/10
Consensus: Has enough honest moments to warrant a look.
Theatrical Release:Feb 14, 2003 Limited
Box Office: $141,311
Synopsis: ALL THE REAL GIRLS is set in a small mill town that gets smaller and more run down with each passing year. Paul (Paul Schneider) has lived here all his life, never been out of the county. It's... ALL THE REAL GIRLS is set in a small mill town that gets smaller and more run down with each passing year. Paul (Paul Schneider) has lived here all his life, never been out of the county. It's never really occurred to him. He lives a cozy, affectionate life with his mom, Elvira (Patricia Clarkson) and he works as a grease monkey for his uncle Leland (Benjamin Mouton). Charming in his way, he has a devoted circle of rowdy friends that he's known for ever -- Tip (Shea Whigham), the richest and most lawless of the bunch; Bo (Maurice Compte), a philosopher not interested in wasting his precious seed on the local girls; and Bust-Ass (Danny McBride), a goofball who is not the sharpest tool in the shed. It's a place of rednecks, mill hands, beer-slugging pontificators and fallen southern belles. Paul's life changes when he finds Tip's younger sister Noel, (Zooey Deschanel), who has just graduated from boarding school and returned to town. She catches the eye of Paul, who has never met anyone like her. And she's never met anyone quite like him -- funny and quirky and unpretentious. They fall in love -- a scary, uncomfortable love, with no precedents for either of them. Although he's had more than his share of romantic experiences, he has never felt anything like this. He's elated and terrified at the same time. And for Noel, this seems like the real thing, not that she knows what she's supposed to do next. For all her worldliness, and his previous conquests, they sometimes act like two kids playing at grown-up love. As the Winter progresses, things go very right, and sometimes wrong. -- © Sony Pictures Classics [More]
Starring: Paul Schneider, Zooey Deschanel, Patricia Clarkson, Shea Whigham
Starring: Paul Schneider, Zooey Deschanel, Patricia Clarkson, Shea Whigham, Danny McBride, Benjamin Mouton
Director: David Gordon Green
Director: David Gordon Green
Screenwriter: David Gordon Green
Story: Paul Schneider, David Gordon Green
Producer: Jean Doumanain, Lisa Muskat
Composer: David Wingo, Michael Linnen
Studio: Sony Pictures Classics
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Reviews for All the Real Girls
There's something missing from this slowly paced story of young love, like a painting that's still waiting for its subject to be dropped in.
A love story for those who cannot tolerate the phoniness of Hollywood romance movies, one that deftly avoids melodrama and manipulation in favor of raw emotion.
It's about people who have no idea what to say, how to say it, what it means, where it leads: They just blunder through, clumsy and hopeful and tongue-tied and so human it breaks your heart.
After a while, you feel like you're watching natural interactions rather than a scripted performance.
It's a beautifully realized and assured work packed with the kind of raw emotions that rarely make it to the screen.
An anti-Hollywood romance; a tonic for all those weary of the usual cinematic overglamorization of love.
Green confirms his status as the most atmospherically distinctive American movie director since Paul Thomas Anderson.
It's a love story stripped of trite narrative conventions and made to feel searingly honest.
Green recycles hoary clichés by poeticizing them and setting them in a kind of timeless present.
A movie that eliminates Hollywood gloss and pop cliches -- and in their place offers an honest look at young love and its pitfalls.
Miraculously, Deschanel makes Noel the real girl that both Paul and the movie very much need.
Green is 27, old enough to be jaded, but he has the soul of a romantic poet.
A small movie about big emotions, with Green capturing the rush of love and sting of heartbreak with great vividness.
Green seems more in love with his perceived unconventionality than he does with his characters.
Girls isn't fabulous, but you do feel its characters really have connected.
Paul Schneider, a buoyant young newcomer from North Carolina, is the No. 1 reason to see David Gordon Green's All the Real Girls.
One of the few films to honestly nail the awkwardness and ardor of young romance.
Latest News for All the Real Girls
July 19, 2007:
(Very) Early and (Very) Positive Reports on Apatow's New Stoner Action Comedy
Are you a big fan of the Judd Apatow posse yet? The guys who gave you "The 40-Year-Old Virgin," "Knocked Up," and the upcoming "Superbad"? Well, good news. Some early reports... More...
December 19, 2005:
Beckinsale is Green's New "Angel"
Variety reports that the always lovely Kate Beckinsale will star in indie darling David Gordon Green's "Snow Angels," which begins shooting early next year. More...
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 66% 66% | Public Enemies |
| 83% 83% | Harry Potter and the H… |
| 44% 44% | Night at the Museum: B… |
| 75% 75% | Julie & Julia |
| 32% 32% | Terminator Salvation |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 88% 88% | Inglourious Basterds |
| 78% 78% | The Hangover |
| 49% 49% | Taking Woodstock |
| 26% 26% | The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard |
| 47% 47% | The Girl From Monaco |
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