L'altra faccia di Beverly Hills

This was a very pleasant surprise. It's hilarious and nostalgic (especially if you're a woman in her mid-thirties), but also really meaningful and moving. This movie is a highly original and often painfully accurate depiction of female adolescence -- from bras to blood stains.

The whole cast is wonderful. Natasha Lyonne is amazing -- I haven't been so captivated by an actress since I saw Emily Watson in "Breaking the Waves." Alan Arkin -- where has he been? -- is wonderful as her father, and Marisa Tomei is outrageous, but not over the top, as her sexy rehab-escapee cousin. Marisa and Natasha are particularly amusing in their scenes together, where they often speak a private language not unlike "ubby-dubby" (remember ZOOM?). The vibrator scene is not to be missed -- you'll never hear "We Got the Funk" the same way again!

I've been very disappointed with a lot of the highly-touted indies of the past few years, but "Slums of Beverly Hills" is the genuine article. I can 't wait to see Tamara Jenkins' next film!

THE SLUMS OF BEVERLY HILLS (3 outta 5 stars) I figured this was going to be just another silly movie about the trials and tribulations of spoiled rich kids in Cali. Actually it's a pretty good coming-of-age story circa 1976. Vivian (Natasha Lyonne) has just grown breasts and now considers herself deformed. Her dad (Alan Arkin) is a divorced man of almost-retirement-age who has never been able to provide a stable home for his kids and keep dragging them from place to place like nomads (and presumably keeping one step ahead of bill collectors). One brother is a struggling actor and the other is too young to really fit in anywhere. In a desperate attempt to make ends meet Arkin takes in his troubled 29 year old niece (Marisa Tomei), charging his rich brother a fee for keeping an eye on her. So they all move into a small, cheap Beverly Hills apartment block and try to cope. Very funny moments... punctuated by some heavy drama and some unexpected twists. One of the better roles that Alan Arkin had had in recent years... proving that he hasn't lost his touch as he's gotten older (unlike many other comic actors of his generation). I have never been much of a fan of Marisa Tomei but I liked her a lot in this movie. The scenes of her and Lyonne conversing in their "secret language" are priceless!

It's summer 1976 Beverly Hills. Vivian Abromowitz (Natasha Lyonne) is a teen annoyed at her sudden boob growth. Her father Murray (Alan Arkin) keeps moving the broke family with her, and brothers Ben and Rickey to avoid paying rent. They stay within Beverly Hills limits so the kids attend the better schools. Cousin Rita (Marisa Tomei) has run away from an asylum and uncle Mickey is willing to pay his brother Murray if she could stay with them. Eliot Arenson is the pot-selling neighbor.

Natasha Lyonne is wonderfully awkward. There is some good dysfunction in this family but there is also some bad awkwardness. It's not a movie filled with big laughs. I could do without one particular uncomfortable scene. There is more good than bad in this movie. It's generally filled with good dry humor.

Being 17 in 1976, this movie perfectly captured that era's tackiness and lack of direction. It hurt just to look at the clothes and listen to the music.

I found the movie a perfectly realistic change from the overwrought seriousness and cookie-cutter "family" pieces.

I especially liked the dead cat, Rita's "boyfriend", and "It's a building thing."

Evocative, scary [in a PVC-upholstered sofa sort of way], redeeming, honest -- I was laughing through my tears.

"Slums" is one of the more underrated films of the 1990s. It seems to rub some people the wrong way for unclear reasons, but I found it to be touching and hilarious from start to finish. Perhaps I'm just a sucker for Alan Arkin, whom I've always liked, and see on screen all to infrequently. More likely I was impressed by the witty script, deft direction and solid cast. I especially appreciated the spot-on portrayal of Southern California during the mid-70s, which just happens to be the era when I migrated from "back East" to Los Angeles. Fortunately, we weren't as hapless as the Abramowitz family, who throughout this film are trying desperately to hang onto the ragged edge of the good life.

This is one "coming of age" story that you don't need to be a teenage girl to enjoy.