A little basic research would have told him the name change was for legal reasons and that the name it used "Suburban Girl " was part of a chapter title in the book.

garda39 | June 08, 23:38 CET

"a twentysomething associate editor who has escaped Jersey and is now associate editor..."

With writing like that perhaps he should try writing a movie himself.

zz9 | June 08, 23:44 CET

As much I love SMG I am sad to admit that movie irked me.

katetwo | June 09, 02:09 CET

It was one of her worse movies... but I just ignored all the silliness and enjoyed watching her.

Valentyn | June 09, 02:13 CET

I can't bring myself to watch it. I actually thought Sarah salvaged "The Grudge" from being as bland and pointless as all other J-Horror, and I thought "The Return" was pretty good, actually. I sat through "Southland Tales" for her, a film which I would have otherwise probably just turned off, but I can't make myself watch the one.

The mere thought of catching a glimpse of her snogging or sharing a love scene with that buffoon is just too painful.

KingofCretins | June 09, 02:58 CET

Even if you think he's a buffoon in his personal life, Alec Baldwin is a brilliant actor... /sigh, when is there more 30 Rock? (a rhetorical question, I know full well when there's more 30 Rock)

zeitgeist | June 09, 03:17 CET

Sarah and Alec Baldwin were both fine in this - not great, but fine, - but the story did not move me at all. I was left wondering why I should care about any of the characters or their situations, and whether the source material was very different from the adaptation.

ETA: I combined the Air I Breathe review with this one - seemed fitting to have all of today's SMG critique in one, narrowly-confined, space. ;-)

[ edited by SoddingNancyTribe on 2008-06-09 01:08 ]

SoddingNancyTribe | June 09, 04:04 CET

I really liked Melissa Bank's book. I liked the movie too (or, at least, I didn't dislike it, not actively, and I thought some parts of it were really great, especially SMG and Alec Baldwin); the May-December thing didn't turn me off any more than it was supposed to, although I thought the direction was pretty uninteresting. All in all I found it pleasing but uneven. It did that thing movies do sometimes (Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium comes to mind) where I feel like it could have been much better and wish it had been so that I could have seen THAT awesome film.

Also, as much as I love "Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing" (and definitely prefer it to "Suburban Girl") as a title, it really had nothing to do with the chapters the movie was based on.

Oh, and I think it's very unfair to compare Suburban Girl to Devil Wears Prada, seeing as how the latter has Meryl Streep, who automatically makes any movie one thousand percent better just by being in it.

KnitWit | June 09, 05:13 CET

I reviewed the movie myself back in January, which can read here, if you want.

I thought it was merely average and didn't think SMG had anything to work with. Peter Scolari was the highlight of the movie, at least for me.

C.S.Strowbridge | June 09, 06:00 CET

I rented Suburban Girl when it came out. Its a cute little movie, nothing spectacular. But I watch anything with SMG in it.
Sadly, a few weeks after it came out I found it in the two for $10 bargain bin at Walmart. Score for me!, not so much for SMG.

twinkiefoo | June 09, 19:25 CET

I actually loved this movie, though clearly I'm in the minority on this. Any actress that can break your heart in one scene and make you laugh out loud in the next is pretty darn amazing, in my book.

KatieB | June 09, 23:56 CET

I spent most of 'Suburban Girl' trying to work out why on earth Brett was so easily taken in by someone as irritatingly pompous and self-serving as Archie.

I don't hate it by any means and I think Gellar gives a perfectly decent performance, but I also think this is the weakest film she has made to date - and the first really poor film she has made since the end of 'Buffy' (that includes the second 'Scooby Doo' film).

I've liked everything else she's done in the last four or five years.

alien lanes | June 10, 03:00 CET