My Navy buddies and I watched this movie over and over again. This movie has an amazing cast of the hot crowd from the mid-nineties. However, the scene stealer is Natalie Portman as Marty (named for her grandfather). The line where she says, "I'll be hot" has turned out to be quite prophetic. Her Christopher Robin/Winnie the Pooh analogy with Timothy Hutton was really nicely done. Every member of the cast contributes some nice stuff here. Even Rosie O'Donnell wasn't annoying when she goes on her rant about how fake the women in men's magazines are. The scene with Michael Rapaport talking about how "champagne diamonds" are the new thing was hilarious. Add in Uma, Mira Sorvino, Lauren Holly and some "Sweet Caroline" and you have a thoroughly enjoyable movie.

The major theme of this movie is that guys take a little bit (ok, a lot bit) longer to grow up than woman do. Some of us never grow up. This is a theme has been in different ways for many years (it would be longer if film were invented earlier. After all, as a gender we have sucked for much longer). Minor spoiler ahead [spoiler] So what does Beautiful Girls bring to the table that we haven't seen before in movies like High Fidelity? On the surface the answer might be "not much" but if you look a little deeper there is a bit more to see. The best example of this is the Natalie Portman character. Ok, it's a bit creepy at first but there was a reason why she was necessary. The character seemed interested in her because he seemed to think that he could kind of start over with something simpler rather than work to maintain what he has. He wasn't starting over - he was trying to maintain his status of a man that hasn't evolved yet. [/spoiler] follow me at https://IHateBadMovies.com or facebook IHateBadMovies

It's a charming 90s movie with some famous faces at the time playing prominent roles. Today was the first time I watched it having never come across this movie during the past 30 years. It took me back in memory lane. I remembered having such a crush on Lauren Holly back in the day watching her in Picket Fences.

30-something. Some superb phrases.

The movie has a very clunky beginning, but once it gets into the second act, it keeps an even tone for a verbose dramedy. Does that mean I liked it? No. Too much going on, with a story that is less about a plot and more about a message. What's the message? Something about growing up/being an adult. Another issue is the acting: to put it nicely, it's mediocre. So many names, and they all get upstaged by a thirteen-year-old Natalie Portman. Really, the nail in the coffin for me was O'Donnell, and Rapaport. The overall execution of the movie is confusing. To start, it feels like it would make a great book, but not a movie. Next, why is it called _Beautiful Girls_ when that's not what it's about? I get it, the scene where Rapaport has his long speech, but that only informs his character and not the group of guys as a whole. I think, aside from poor casting, this is actually pretty good... or it could have been. The dialog is fantastic in some parts, and the movie feels very real. Trouble is, it never closes the loop; it never reaches a conclusion on what the point is. Let me put it this way: Hutton plays our lead, Conway, and he may be the lease interesting character within. From the very beginning, I was asking "why is he here?" Turns out he is back in town for a class reunion. Do we see this? Sort of. We get a short moment where Dorian Smalls (Holly) goes there, but it's only so an unrelated character can have an interaction with her. Nothing to do with the rest of the story. All I can figure is, if you can relate to any one of the characters here, you'll probably really like this. Kind of a weird review, but it's a weird movie. Not bad, not great. Finally: Dillon, and Thurman are both good in their roles. I had to laugh at the moment where they were talking on the road, since they would be in a similar scene many years later in _The House that Jack Built_.