Lontano da casa

Admittedly, this film did not deserve a place in the Oscars, but for an average thriller it is watchable.

Pic centres on a young girl just entering adolescence and interested in what every teenage girl is interested in - boys! It is her naivety and inexperience which lands her in trouble. Barrymore is generally good as the confused and lonely angst-ridden teenager, and is sometimes quite realistic in her scenes with Matt Frewer. As a teenager when I saw this a few years ago, I certainly could relate to her and her ineptitude with boys, but now it's just another coming-of-age film with a weak murder plot. Jones was convincing as the ice-cold lust figure for Barrymore, but we never saw enough of him and his character was too rigid. Girls will like him - especially in a wet T-Shirt (Barrymore isn't the only one!)

Nevertheless, some good acting and not a bad film overall, particularly from the women like Susan Tyrrell and Karen Austin, who seem to hold it together better than the men!