Dirty Girl 2010

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: The heavy eye shadow, cheesy clothes and stiffly flipped-out hair feel almost too mocking ... rather than serving as stylistic choices that make the characters feel like real people. Read more

James Rocchi, MSN Movies: Dirty Girl isn't nearly as messy or real or raw as it needs to be -- mostly it's just grubby with shopworn familiarity and glammed up with too many pop songs. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: A well-meaning, misbegotten frenzy of confused impulses. Read more

Alison Willmore, Time Out: Temple does turn what's essentially a magical-hussy role into something more grounded and human. The rest of the cast isn't quite so lucky... Read more

John Hartl, Seattle Times: The movie is all over the place, searching for an identity that proves almost entirely elusive. Read more

Scott Tobias, AV Club: Writer-director Abe Sylvia reflects mid-'80s Middle America through a fisheye indie lens, and films don't get much uglier than this. Read more

Michael Rechtshaffen, Hollywood Reporter: A sweet 'n' sassy period comedy with a Juno sensibility and the soul of a Little Miss Sunshine. Read more

Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times: [Sylvia's] attempts at situational humor on the road - including a stripping scene for Dozier as coming-out metaphor - fall embarrassingly flat. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Undoubtedly this movie means something to its director and screenwriter - a former dancer making his feature-film debut. So why didn't he put more care into the period? Read more

Ian Buckwalter, NPR: It's probably appropriate that a film about adolescent identity crises has trouble figuring out what it wants to be. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: One can appreciate an artistic effort without actually endorsing it, which may be the most generous approach to Abe Sylvia's frustratingly uneven debut. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: If your sensibility is pure trashy camp, don't expect anyone not to laugh when you try to be earnest. Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: Dirty Girl is a bad movie with no insights that is broadly drawn and genuinely plagued by filthy dialogue. You don't laugh. You just wince, and wonder how the whole thing ever got financed. Read more

Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle: Social satire, heartbreaking family drama and a lot of toe-tapping 1980s music attempt to exist in the same space. Watching this movie is like eating a hot fudge sundae and lasagna in alternating bites. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: Dirty Girl isn't. Sorry, but it's just faux grime, a thin layer of bad behaviour that wipes clean with a two-ply tissue to reveal the real movie beneath - all shiny sentimentality. Read more

Alonso Duralde, TheWrap: But even if Dirty Girl is formulaic, it's constantly moving forward, and not just in the geographical sense. Read more

Bruce Demara, Toronto Star: Dirty Girl broadcasts its intent to be edgy and subversive - poking fun throughout at small-town, conservative attitudes toward sex and morality - without ever achieving subversion. Read more

Peter Debruge, Variety: What begins as a politically incorrect, Mean Girls-esque satire constantly shifts tone and focus as director Abe Sylvia pursues a style as jumbled as his narrative. Read more

Melissa Anderson, Village Voice: A feeble teenage-outcast movie set in 1987, Dirty Girl exists primarily as a vehicle for first-time writer-director Abe Sylvia's favorite Reagan-era jams. Read more