Movie Review: The Girl Next Door Blu-ray

Matthew Kidman dreams of a career in politics his world is turned upside down when a girl moves in next door for the fall.

Film making 18/25
Video 16/25
Audio 20/25
Bonus Features 12/25
Total 66/100

With huge undertones of Risky Business The Girl Next Door poses the same dilemmas and love interests, teen meets worldly girl, falls in love and possibly loses everything. Emile Hirsch plays Matthew Kidman, an up and coming teenager on the brink of a career in politics until he meets Danielle played by Elisha Cuthbert.

Mathew falls in love but Danielle is not the clean cut girl house sitting the neighbor's home for the fall, she is a porn star taking a break. When her former producer Kelly finds her in the suburbs she is taken back to Vegas for a porn star convention where Kelly makes some deals to get her back to work.

Kelly has a hard time with Danielle when she starts to fall for Matthew even with the age difference and Kelly ends up taking matters into his own hands. Kelly steals money Matthew was in charge of to help an exchange student from Cambodia move to the US and go to their high school.

Mathew and Danielle along with Matt's friend's concoct a scheme to get their money back and save Matthew from certain jail and humiliation. The film does a good job of taking the high school crush and adding a bit of danger and spice but not going to the lengths that other films like Risky Business or even American Pie does.

The Girl Next Door does take the story quite far and is worth a look as a funny teen sex comedy that is both romantic and believable. The Blu-ray release does a good job but not taking things to an exceptional level with video but audio is very good.

The video does have its problems with grain and a bit lower quality in darker scenes but mostly it seems a bit lower quality for such a new film. The audio is better with good surround sound from the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 but is a bit on the heavy side toward the front speakers.

Without much roaring effects and action the music and conversations are mostly in the front so surround is kind of lacking here but there are some scenes that it is noticeable. Mainly the audio is clear and crisp that sounds good and the Blu-ray release is good in this respect but is also lacking in the extras.

The bonus content on the Blu-ray release is a bit shy but includes feature commentary by director Luke Greenfield, scene specific commentary by Emile Hirsch and Elisha Cuthbert, a couple of making of features and a gag reel. The Eli Experience is a look at the real world of pornography at the Adult World Expo from the view of Eli played by Chris Marquette.

The other feature A Look Next Door is a typical making of feature and both this and the Eli Experience are a one time feature that is sort of interesting. The gag reel is a funny look at goofs but is also quite short so you don't get much in the way of entertaining extras.

The Girl Next Door is well worth a look but may not be worth purchasing unless you really enjoy this type of teen comedy. The Girl Next Door on Blu-ray is a good film but you may want to rent it before purchasing the unrated version to check out if it's worth it for you.