Dirty Girl (2011)

This could have been a witty period take on coming of age and finding your identity (a sort of Indi 'dirty' Pretty in Pink or Can't buy me love'), but I was distracted by the claim of a 1987 setting. The 1982 hair cuts and 1977 clothing made the production feel like it was run by a group of high school students without access to google! There was so much social, political and fashion change going on at the end of the 80s that failure to contextualise the story properly made this poorly written film feel flat and pointless as well as failing an otherwise great cast. Definitely, not one to recommend. I would go back to original films of the era for now, but also give some of the TV set in that era a go as well for new perspectives on the time.

I went into this movie with relatively low expectations; looking around on Netflix for something to watch to kill a bit of time, and left thinking it was the best movie I've seen in a long time. I laughed, I cried; I emphasized with the characters.Juno Temple gives a great performance as the girl with the bad reputation of being the "dirty girl" at her school, who gets thrown into a class of misfits after her misbehavior, which included Clarke, who was struggling with coming out of the closet; wonderfully portrayed by Jeremy Dozier. The two get paired up on a project unwillingly to raise a flower sack "baby," who ends up being a cute little part of the movie as its expressions change throughout.Dwight Yoakam as always did a great job of playing a mean and nasty guy as Clarke's homophobic father. Mary Steenbrugen gave a laudable performance as his mother; Juno Temple was as cute as a bug in the movie, the 80s soundtrack is great; lots of laughs throughout, plenty of scenes where you could feel especially for Clarke. At the end I wondered if her character would have went on to have any relationship with her father, who despite not wanting her to live with him, turned out to be a really good man; and the experience of meeting him, coupled with finding out the truth that her father thought she was aborted, but that her mother chose to keep her made her see her mom in a whole different light, and made her reform herself from being the "dirty girl." I'm sure I will watch this movie may more times over the years. It has all the charm of an 80s John Hughes film.

1987 Oklahoma: Danielle Edmondston (Juno Temple) is a troubled and promiscuous high school student. She argues with her mother, Sue-Ann (Milla Jovovich), who is about to marry a Mormon, Ray (William H. Macy), and amidst the chaos she befriends Clarke Walters (Jeremy Dozier), a shy, overweight, gay classmate. Together, they flee in a car owned by Clarke's homophobic father, Joseph (Dwight Yoakam), and embark on a road trip to Fresno, where Danielle expects to find her birth father, Danny Briggs. Meanwhile, Sue-Ann and Clarke's mother, Peggy (Mary Steenburgen), chase after them.I just loved this movie- in fact, just watched it again recently. Juno Temple is great in the lead role, and I was also really impressed with Dozier's performance. He doesn't play Clarke as the stereotypical "flaming" Hollywood gay character, but instead gives a more subtle performance as a young man learning about life, love and sex no different from any other homo- or heterosexual character would be doing at that age. And I must mention the music! If you like '80s music like I do- this is the movie for you- loved the music AND how it was used. In fact, for "guilty pleasure" fans of a 1970s icon- Melissa Manchester- her music is used in this movie (being the main characters are big fans of hers) big time. In fact, I "think" she may even have a cameo role in this-?? A great cast, great performances, great music- make this a MUST-SEE- now streaming on Netflix!

What do you get when you take the a girl that looks for love in all the wrong places and an out of place gay friend searching for the girls dad? A movie that doesn't rub your face in the lifestyles choices made by the main characters. I really liked this film. Juno Temple did an outstanding job as did Milla Jojovich as the single mother of two. The story makes a circle and was very heart warming. The film makers use of innuendo was excellent. Most films show every gory detail to validate the characters and in this case the film maker left it up to your imagination. There was well timed humor through out the film and the harshness of reality. It demonstrates that we can only deal with what we have in front of us. I walked away happy I spent the time watching it. I liked the out of the ordinary film and would definitely recommend it!!!!