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Back in the old town, Willie makes that peculiarly regressive adjustment necessary to get along with his absent-minded father Dick (Richard Bright). A good reason to spend most of the time in bars, with schoolyard buddies; Tommy Rowland (Matt Dillon) runs a snow-clearing outfit with Paul Kirkwood (Michael Rapaport) and Kev (Max Perlich). They've barely progressed since school, still caught between and obsessed by women. Knight's Ridge is packed with current, Sharon Cassidy (Mira Sorvino), and past, Jan (Martha Plimpton), girlfriends, making for an emotional minefield. Maybe that's why Willie allows himself to get caught up by his precocious 13 year-old next-door neighbour Marty (Natalie Portman).
Beautiful Girls can be very briefly described as a boy-girl flick, located in a typically introverted American small-town, with a few external elements stirring things up. This rather misses the point of the film though, the characteristic that determines how good such a genre piece is, which is the theme of identification. If the viewer can instantly spot a personally recognisable character in the cast, then they're bound to get hooked; this is where Beautiful Girls excels. The film starts slowly, without artificial exposition, and allows the characters to gradually take shape, as defined by their actions and reactions. While the school-friend background develops, like an 1890's photograph, comprehension of their formative years grows.
The dramatic contrast springs from Marty, maturing in the present. Such a messy, mixed-up technique can be frustrating but it does have the virtue of according with reality (which is itself never cut-and-dried). Thus even though it's in the nature of cinema to compress a whirlwind of unusual events into a short space of time, Beautiful Girls makes us feel for the characters and what happens to them.
In arrangement the cast of Beautiful Girls splits into trios, even as everyone loosely interacts with everyone else. Paul, Tommy and Kev are your standard drunken reprobates, emotionally stunted, unchanged since leaving school. It's easy to see how they could still be drinking themselves silly in 40 years, secure in their macho womb of beer and ice fishing. In some state of despairing opposition are Gina Barrisano (Rosie O'Donnell), Sharon and Jan. They don't much like what's on offer but they're all keen to grab hold of a man, even if he won't commit. Related to the usual masculine "three in a bed" fantasy, the other threesomes are: Tommy, Sharon and Darian Smalls (Lauren Holly) in a wasteful tussle between past and future, and Marty, Willie and Tracy as a low-key but promising support group.
The cast works well as an ensemble, projecting the dynamics of the situation, hopes and reality with sometimes impressive force. If anyone in particular stands out, it's Portman in a delightful performance that captures adolescent Marty's every nuance.
Central to Beautiful Girls is the dialogue; witty, appropriate and clever but lacking the fatal flaw of being too knowing. As written by Scott Rosenberg, the lines sound right, even when characters launch into monologue (the best of these is awarded to Gina, a devastating dismissal of the false imagery of Playboy models and male misconception). Occasionally Portman is handed phrases pitched at a slightly too mature level for a kid, yet she deals with these professionally. As Willie says, Portman has a great future ahead of her. Anyway, the reunion is merely a device, a way to bring everyone together and show that instead of searching for perfection, men should appreciate what they have. It's a fine sentiment, except for the fact that Hollywood projects a diametrically opposed world-view!
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