Dirty Girl

I'm a cliché artsy girl form NYC and often i look forward to films like these.. you know the little indie gems that not many people have heard of.. Dirty Girl was like a treat for me and i can watch it again and again.It's not a perfect film and definitely not mainstream, but absolutely entertaining. Juno Temple couldn't have played this part any better as a young promiscuous teenage girl who seems confident and unafraid to conquer the world but is actually quite vulnerable and easily broken.. Clark was so lovable as the fat gay best friend and hopeless romantic, even with all their flaws , the chemistry between them was outstanding, and me and mom couldn't help but to laugh at the different emotions from the bag of flour and to adore the cool soundtrack (she's an 80's chick so it was inevitable)..

The journey was so fun to watch that i didn't want it to end, part of me had wished that Danielle and Clark could have ran away and started a new life together.. that would have been epic, but by the end of the film it was easy to admire the writers for thinking outside the box and reminding me why i love films like these so much ~

I saw Dirty Girl at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2010 and it was amazing!!!

I thought it had a good blend of drama and comedy therefore when things got heavy or sad I didn't get depressed or too down because a few scenes later I would be laughing.

I thought it was the best portrayal of the beauty of a relationship between a gay man and a straight woman since Will & Grace. It also had a great soundtrack. I can't wait to have a movie night at my house with this movie. It was just a fun movie with depth. No academy award worthy performances in my opinion but the acting is definitely good but no mind blowing performances.

My fav film of TIFF 2010

I liked "Dirty Girl" because it was unabashedly fun. It was pro-gay rights, pro-female independence, and anti-religious persecution without it being about any of that. On the surface it was an '80s throwback with the teen kids embracing the "anything goes" attitude while their parents clung to their conservative values. Pack a suitcase, pop in a mixed tape and run away.

Juno Temple stars as the titular dirty girl, Danielle. She assumed the role of the rebellious daughter and the inappropriate student who relished any opportunity to be the sex symbol. The whole-heartedness with which Temple became Danielle not only made this type of person acceptable but empathetic too.

This isn't to say that the film was perfect. One of the big drawbacks was that although the lead character did evolve, she did so with incongruent leaps. My other issue was that whenever Danielle and her companion Clarke had to stop and sing, the film stopped too. That could be on purpose though since they do seem to be trying to sell the soundtrack just as much as the movie itself.

It's the movie itself, though, that I liked. It was the passion that all of the characters had for life that just danced off the screen. The societal lessons that important movies try to teach and which we all probably already know, are just silly, feel-good bonuses here since they came up with new, more realistic, and more relatable endings. Wait for Clarke's reaction to his final circumstances if at any point you fear the monotonous drone of melodrama.

"Dirty Girl" does bring to mind similar better movies which walked parallel paths, most notably "Jolene". And although after watching this, I immediately came home and bought the latter, it should still be able to find its place among accepting fans. It moves along at a quick pace, keeping the lead characters delightful even when they're depressed, and keeping the tone light even when the supporting characters commit some pretty heinous acts. I've never had a problem enjoying those types of conflicting scenes, but it does account for the movie's poor reception.

Keep in mind that this is writer and director Abe Sylvia's first film and that the archetypal characters can actually belong to any decade then you should have no problem enjoying, and secretly wanting to be, the dirty girl.

This movie was rated 37% on Metacritic and 27% on Rotten tomatoes and honestly I think this is wrong, wrong, wrong. I expect this is because the title is misleading...the movie is not about a "dirty girl" at all, it's about a journey of discovery and maturation and the transformative power of friendship. The writing is not particularly sophisticated so in lesser hands the movie could easily have sucked. However the two lead actors were so engaging (and the supporting cast were also excellent) that what could have felt like a flat, unconvincing story was, in my opinion, extremely touching. I confess toward the end I was crying in sympathy for the loss experienced by the main characters. Thankfully, the final scenes in the movie turned this into a positive (and even mildly cathartic) experience. I had become invested in the characters (so you see, I cannot possibly trash this movie the way so many others have).

It's 1987 Oklahoma. Danielle Edmondston (Juno Temple) is a dirty girl. She has sex with the boys. She gets dropped into the special class filled with misfits. She befriends outcast Clarke Walters (Jeremy Dozier) who is coming to terms with his homosexuality. Her home life with her mother Sue-Ann (Milla Jovovich) is chaotic as she is about to marry Ray (William H. Macy). Danielle and Clarke go on a road trip to search for her birth father as Clarke's parents (Dwight Yoakam, Mary Steenburgen) chase after him.

I want to root for Danielle and Clarke. The movie needs more comedy. It's not that funny. With better comedy, the buddy chemistry would take care of itself. The movie would be much improved. It also relies too much on musical interludes. The story is a bit too messy. I wish the movie and the dialog is better written.