The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

If you've seen 2007's "Snow Angels" or 2004's "Undertow" you'd know that David Gordon Green is a filmmaker of the highest caliber. "Snow Angels" is easily one of the greatest dramas ever filmed and "Undertow" is a mesmerizing piece of Southern Gothic, even while its point remains elusive. This explains why I was geared-up for a great love story/drama with 2003's "All the Real Girls," which was written & directed by Green.Alas, it was not to be. "All the Real Girls" is a huge disappointment.Understand that I love indie flicks because they're generally more creative and daring than their their Hollywood cardboard cut-out counterparts. I prefer creative, unique and daring cinema to formulaic, predictable mainstream drek. But "All the Real Girls" has all the marks of an indie flick gone horribly wrong -- tedious melodrama, uninteresting characters, horrible dialogue that's trying too hard to be "realistic" and artful. I once heard someone say that the greatest sin in cinema is to be boring and I agree. Well, "All the Real Girls" transgresses big time.The only reasons I'm not giving it less than 3 Stars are because the cinematography and locations are spectacular. The film was shot in the Asheville, Marshall & Cherokee regions of Western North Carolina. Plus the actors do a fine job (e.g. Paul Schneider, Zooey Deschanel & Patricia Clarkson) with Shea Whigham standing out as Tip, the main girl's brother who doesn't want Schneider's character taking advantage of his sister, but that angle goes nowhere. The problem wasn't the actors but rather the dull story and totally stoo-pid dialogue they got saddled with. A good example is when Schneider and Zooey are hanging out in a bowling alley, apparently near closing time because I didn't see or hear another soul, when Schneider says he wants to dance but doesn't want her to see him. So she turns around and he goes into some goofy dance antics. It's a useless, eye-rolling scene, but -- believe it or not -- it's better than the bulk of the dreadfully tedious scenes in the film.The story, on the surface, could've been interesting: A small town (supposed) Casanova falls for a young virgin just back from boarding school. She breaks his heart and he has to deal with it. (Hey, you reap what you sow, sucka). This is a theme we all can relate to one way or another, but it all comes across as a big meaningless zero.If you enjoyed "Snow Angels" and "Undertow" don't expect the same greatness here.GRADE: D+

In an attempt to draw mainstream attention and garner distribution deals, most independent films hide a rather saccharine, Hollywood plot beneath their gritty exteriors. "All The Real Girls" is no different, with its formulaic "boy meets girl, boy loses girl" plot, and its central rights of passage, in which our promiscuous hero learns the value of trust.What's different here is the film's aesthetic strategy. Directed by David Gordon Green, "Girls" subdues its central plot, dimming it down to a mere whisper. Green then foregrounds his environment, a derelict, North Carolinan mining town, and inserts many improvised moments and sequences, using a visual style comprised almost entirely of intuitively snatched shots. The result is a fairly poetic film which conjures up the works of Terrance Malick, Cassavetes and early Nicholas Roeg.Actors Zooey Dashanel and Paul Schneider play our young lovers, and like the rest of the film they ooze a certain rawness, a certain quiet sincerity. The plot they're stuck in, however, isn't up to the pretensions of Green's aesthetic. At its worst, "All The Real Girls" is as formulaic, small minded and contrived as any Hollywood romantic comedy. At its best, however, it's a moody little film, which preaches the importance of trust and the far reaching, painful ripples caused by, not only infidelity, but thwarted expectations. Specifically the expectations placed on men by women, a message Green conveys by mirroring the film's lead couple, a promiscuous guy and a virginal girl, with the Lothario's mother, a woman whose life has been damaged by a string of men who all abandoned her whenever the times got tough.End result: the film advocates growing up, caring about the wider ramifications of your actions, and living up to your responsibilities. After this film, director David Gordon Green would proceed to do the opposite, selling his soul to work on juvenile Hollywood sex comedies, some of which are underrated and covertly espouse the same values as "Girls": be responsible, compassionate and love your fellowman.8/10 – See "The Truth About Tully". Worth one viewing.

It's good every now and then to come across a film like All the Real Girls. Here is a romance which is realistic and virtually free of gimmick and clichés. It is also photographed beautifully, scored beautifully and characterized in a unusual and interesting manner. It is a film that leaves you thinking, but for all its goodness, it still needs a bit of work.In a small town, Paul has a reputation for having sex affairs with all the local girls (twenty- six to be exact). One day, his best friend's sister drives into town for a visit. She and Paul hang out together first as friends but eventually as a strange couple. it looks as if Paul is ready to go strait for the first time, something which is making his friends and family a little suspicious. What is to come?After the first hour, All the Real Girls is close to being a great film, but something goes wrong. I should point out that in addition to a romance, the movie is also a drama, and dramas need a conflict of some sort. Writer/Director David Gordon Green chooses to throw one in to begin the final act, and he does it in an overly forced, abrupt manner. The scenes which follow are not terrible, but they don't quite match the rest of the picture. They are less interesting and more melodramatic. The ending in fact is kind of sad, but it reminds you that this is not an artificial fictional story, this is a movie which delivers a potential real life scenario.Ignoring the mild errors, All the Real Girls is one of the most accomplished romance films I've seen lately, and it's worth watching.

ALL THE REAL GIRLS is strange little film written and directed by David Gordon Green, an attempt to capture the claustrophobia of a small North Carolina town where finding love in the midst of an atmosphere devoid of secrets. It boasts a strong cast, has some moments of touching repartee, but in the end we are left with a lack of feeling for/caring about any of the characters. Green's fidgety camera work, jumbled scene changes, and lack of character development prevent the good points to out weigh the weak ones.Hometown lothario Paul (Paul Schneider) is best friends with another womanizer Tip (Shea Whigham) whose sister Noel (Zooey Deschanel) returns home from a boarding school and falls for Paul. Paul and Noel do a courtship dance, the first act of a relationship that includes more talk and self-confession than physical. Tip objects to Paul's interest in his sister and this of course only fans the flame of romance. The cadre of homeboys (Danny R. McBride and Maurice Compte) watch on the sidelines as the Romeo and Juliet affair takes place. Paul's mother (Patricia Clarkson) and uncle (Benjamin Mouton) add what words of twisted wisdom they can. The love affair is the first serious relationship Paul has ever encountered and for the first time it is the girl who throws the wrench into the experience, a factor that allows the story to simply end.With a cast that includes some truly gifted actors (Deschanel and Clarkson especially) the viewer has to reflect on why there is no true concern for anybody in the film, no screen chemistry and no charisma that would have helped make this belabored effort worthwhile. David Gordon Green is young and has some very sound ideas about film, but he needs to talk to his audiences about communication to enable him to make solid movies. Grady Harp