Though hypocritical in the way it sensationalizes sexuality, this serious and funny 1998 movie about a 15-year-old coming to terms with her body and her family in 1976 is, refreshingly, never coy or ironic.
Comment
01/12/07
Slums of Beverly Hills (1998)
79
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work 
Reviews Counted:57
Fresh:45
Rotten:12
Average Rating:6.9/10
Consensus: Warm, real, and hilarious.
Runtime: 1 hr 31 mins
Genre: Comedies
Synopsis: This is a coming-of-age story about a young girl in 1970's Beverly Hills who must come to terms with her family's constantly changing residences as well as trying to control her budding sexuality.... [More]
Starring: Natasha Lyonne, Alan Arkin, Marisa Tomei, Kevin Corrigan
Director: Tamara Jenkins
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Reviews for Slums of Beverly Hills
Top CriticIntelligent, humorous and thoroughly poignant, this can easily hold its own with the best comedies of the year.
05/14/03
Coarsely funny and surprisingly touching.
01/01/00
A very funny and well-acted comedy about the slings and arrows of outrageous adolescence.
01/01/00
The character's struggles with the pitfalls of adolescent development may be particular to women, but many of the emotional ramifications will strike a chord of familiarity for men, as well.
01/01/00
Top CriticLyonne's splendid efforts are undermined by the scattered focus on other characters, who are well-acted but too much of a distraction.
01/01/00
[Jenkins'] characters are multitextured and all too human.
01/01/00
This zany comedy written and directed by Tamara Jenkins is filled with humorous takes on sexuality in the 1970s.
03/02/02
Aside from Corrigan, there is nothing that I can recommend about it.
04/09/05
There's an alchemy that can transform personal experience into a great film, but it was nowhere nearby when Tamara Jenkins wrote and directed this lacklustre first feature.
07/12/02
Top CriticThe snack food equivalent of film -- it satisfies for a while, but it doesn't fill you up in the long run.
01/01/00
Basically I enjoyed Slums of Beverly Hills -- for the wisecracking, for the family squabbles, for the notion of squatters who stake a claim in a Beverly Hills where money, after all, is not the only currency.
01/01/00
Top CriticJenkins' script is searingly honest and painfully humorous.
01/01/00
Raucous, poignant and hilariously frank about the ins and outs of budding female sexuality.
01/01/00
Jenkins does offer the world of film comedy a much-needed female perspective. And Slums of Beverly Hills bodes well for a long-term career.
01/01/00
Ms. Jenkins developed her script at the Sundance Institute -- hence Robert Redford's name as executive producer -- but her quirky humor is quite heavy-handed and she needs to learn how to do some judicious editing.
01/01/00
A small film with plenty of incidental pleasures, writer/director Jenkins' debut feature puts a winning new spin on the adolescent comedy-drama.
06/24/06
An ingenious mixture of (so to speak) broad comedy and poignance.
01/01/00
It covers some serious topics about adolescence, but it does it with a wink and a knowing nod; some things that are tragic when you're 14 are quite funny in hindsight.
02/27/01
Ultimately it's all a bit predictable -- the cyclical story more or less ends where it begins -- but it's nevertheless a charming and delightful romp, with keen observations about character, time and place.
06/05/02
Latest News for Slums of Beverly Hills
January 22, 2007:
Sundance Interview: RT Talks With "The Savages'" Tamara Jenkins
In the cult hit "Slums of Beverly Hills," director Tamara Jenkins created a darkly comic film from her experiences as a teenager. After a long layoff, Jenkins is back... More...
August 23, 2005:
In Other News...Natasha Lyonne, Brad 'n Jen, and Kirsten 'n Jake
According to the NY Post, American Pie star Natasha Lyonne is in the intensive care unit of New York's Beth Israel Hospital, where she is receiving treatment for Hepatitis C, a... More...
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