Whirlygirl (2006)

Straight-laced prep student James (a fine and likable performance by Julian Morris) becomes completely infatuated with enticing exotic dancer Whirlygirl (well played with unexpected depth and expected sexy aplomb by ravishing blonde Monet Mazur) and decides to risk everything by following the babe to New York City. So far, so familiar. But thankfully director Jim Wilson and writer Peter McCormack eschew crude lowbrow humor in favor of a pleasant and touching examination of morality and responsibility in which both main characters help each other evolve into better people. James in particular makes for an appealing protagonist as he learns to shed his inhibitions and be more spontaneous. Moreover, Mazur does a stellar job of portraying the humanity and vulnerability lurking just beneath the surface of the titular gal's shallow party girl facade. In addition, there are sturdy supporting contributions by J.A.Q. as James' loyal roommate Raoul, Rob Sullivan as hard-nosed adviser Mr. McTavish, and Woody Boley as obsessed stalker Monty. Christo Bakalov's sharp cinematography provides a nice handsome look. Both the cool soundtrack and Deborah Lurie's neatly percolating score keep things bubbling along. Best of all, this movie is done with real heart and sincerity. A cute little sleeper.

"Whirlygirl" is a unique film in one major respect. The misadventures of university student James (Julian Morris) are not that special. Some of the banter between James and his university friends is fun to watch, but those scenes are few and far in between. Instead the film gambles on the appeal of Monet Mazur's main character, the mysterious "Whirlygirl," who is supposed to be so enchanting and irresistible to us (as she is to James) that we can excuse and even overlook the lack of plot in this entire film. Whirlygirl is meant to represent every guy's image of an irresistible beauty from high school or university who makes our hearts flutter and every moment of our existence electrifying and profoundly meaningful. This film's main ambition and its great gamble is to accomplish that very feat with Monet Mazur's "Whirlygirl."Yet the gamble, for the most part, does not pay off. Monet Mazur gives only a capable performance as the "Whirlygirl," when she needs to give us an extraordinary one that matches up to her character's legendary reputation as a mysterious, intriguing and enchanting beauty. For a film that relies so much on character for its appeal, Monet Mazur's "Whirlygirl" is surprisingly lacking in the kind of character that can leave us with a lasting impression. This failure can be attributed partly to Monet Mazur's only capable acting (when she really needed to be extraordinary) and also to the fact that the script does not give her much to do.Perhaps if another actress was given the part of the "Whirlygirl" and if the screenplay writers gave more thought to further developing the "Whirlygirl" character, then this film would actually be good. Instead, "Whirlygirl" has the potential of a great film, but falls short of realizing it.

Whirleygirl stars Julian Morris as a student athlete at a prestigious academy who falls for a stripper who comes to the school to perform. Morris is the straight laced student who figures out how to get a stripper on the grounds to perform. As she is dancing she notices him and gives him a kiss and steals a valuable memento off of him. He actually tracks her down to retrieve his belongings and romance ensues. This is definitely a take off of "Risky Business" but is nice in its own way. Monet Mazur plays the stripper and she does a good job. Morris also does a good job as the good guy torn by his attraction to the free spirted "whirley girl". This is an OK drama and worth viewing.

Whirlygirl suffers primarily from a bad script and poor direction. The script lacks the closure of a third act; we are left hanging thinking there needed to be something more. There is a rescuer scene which I guess the director thought would be a climax but the movie has an episodic feel to it.This film is based on a true story. Well the scriptwriter should have embellished it since true stories do not make compelling films. The lead actor Julian Morris does a decent job with the material but the rest of the cast performances are flat. In fact one of the students, who was acting like he was just waking up had a believability level of zero. Speaking of Morris, I had just watched him in Cry Wolf where he also plays a prep school student and his character seems to have walked out of that slasher movie into this one. Slasher movies can get by without any character development but a film like Whirlygirl requires it.Hats off to DP Christo Bakalov for delivering some great images to such a hollow story.