Two short stories from Melissa Bank’s book “The Girls’ Guide to Hunting and Fishing”, entitled “My Old Man” and “The Worst Thing a Suburban Girl Could Imagine”, formed the basis for this screenplay by Klein. I haven’t read them, but I’d assume “My Old Man” must have provided the subplot in which Brett’s preternaturally serene father, Robert (James Naughton, who starred in the “Planet of the Apes” TV series with Ron Harper way back in ’74), reveals that he has cancer. The rest of the family, including Brett’s doggedly cheerful mother (Jill Eiknenberry), face the worst with a stoic acceptance that Brett can’t comprehend at first. Only when she’s lived through it will she understand that life goes on.
Meanwhile, “The Worst Thing a Suburban Girl Could Imagine” is to fall in love with a twice-divorced alcoholic who’s almost as old as her father. Especially after friction between them causes him to start drinking again and seeking temporary solice elsewhere. Brett begins to rely on him for advice on things he’s already learned through experience, until he becomes, as Brett’s best friend puts it, her human “cheat sheet” for life. Eventually she realizes that he’s more of a teacher than a lover to her, and he’ll always see her as a student.
When I started watching this movie, I knew I was deep into chick-flick territory, which can be a treacherous place to find yourself in. But if you must watch a romantic comedy-drama, you could do worse than this slick, meticulously-crafted effort that does manage to give us a few likable characters and keep us interested in what happens to them.
When the more lighthearted comedy elements begin to give way to a deeper and more dramatic involvement in the interwoven stories, SUBURBAN GIRL becomes pretty engrossing. Sarah Michelle Gellar is an appealing lead, slipping easily between funny and serious as the events of her life become more unpredictable. Alec Baldwin gives the kind of performance he doesn’t really even have to wake up for—twinkly-eyed and warm, soft-spoken and huggable, like a big, pudgy teddy bear—yet he seems to be enjoying himself. And despite the reserved subtlety of his performance, there’s a convincing underlying desperation to Archie Knox, who doesn’t want to lose what may be the last great love of his life.
Not much in the way of special features on the DVD—there’s a nice commentary from the director and a trailer. The film is presented in its 1.85:1 theatrical aspect ratio and enhanced for 16:9 TVs. (I know because I copied that right off the box.) Sound quality is satisfactory. It’s rated PG-13, with no nudity, which is okay with me because most of the love scenes have Alec Baldwin in them and I’ve never been in any hurry to see him rolling around naked.
While this sort of movie is pretty low on my list of fun stuff to watch, it’s not an ordeal to have to suffer through, either. If you’re gonna watch a chick-flick, it’s nice to come across one as mature, thoughtful, and carefully mounted as this one. It gets a little goofy here and there, and some of Brett and Archie’s bickering interactions sound like the same kind of lovers’ quarrels that I hate to be around in real life, but all in all I enjoyed myself fairly well and felt pretty good about it at the fadeout. So I guess SUBURBAN GIRL would make a good couples’ movie, or at least one that doesn’t cause the guy to want to shoot himself right around the halfway mark.
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