VERY GOOD GIRLS (2013)

Genre: Drama
Director: Naomi Foner
Cast: Dakota Fanning, Elizabeth Olsen, Boyd Holbrook, Demi Moore, Clark Gregg, Peter Sarsgaard, Ellen Barkin, Richard Dreyfuss
Runtime: 1 hr 31 mins
Rating: NC-16 (Some Sexual Scenes)
Released By: Shaw 
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 27 November 2014

Synopsis: Naomi Foner’s directorial debut, Very Good Girls, explores the complicated dynamics of family and friendship as it tells the story of two best friends who, during their last summer before heading off to college, learn some unexpected lessons about life, love and the true meaning of friendship.

Movie Review:

In the course of one summer, the friendship of two best friends, Lily (Dakota Fanning) and Gerri (Elizabeth Oslen), are put to the test when they both fall in love with the same guy, David (Boyd Holbrook) after an impulsive naked swim at the beach. Makes for an enticing opening I must say.  

David, currently the only hot guy living near the girls’ neighbourhood, is quite a looker with tussled hair, great bod and all. He shoots with a Leica, reads Sylvia Plath’s poetry and he is also quite an accomplished street artist. That aside, he is actually in love with Lily, even though Gerri carries a torch for him. In the later part of the movie, Lily resorts to pairing David up with Gerri, despite the fact that she is very much in love and is sleeping with him. New York is so huge yet so small in this coming-of-age drama from first-time director and screenwriter Naomi Foner.  

And so the 90 minutes drama that boasts a stellar cast including Ellen Barkin and Clark Gregg as Lily's parents and Richard Dreyfuss and Demi Moore as Gerri's freewheeling parents struggles between friendship, relationship and sex. Quite a handful of ambitious subjects to touch on especially for a newbie helmer.

The actual result however is a missed opportunity. Foner tries her best to cram in as much as possible and that applies to the number of talented stars. You are never connected to Foner’s story on the whole because most of the characters float in and out of the screen spouting a few lines and basically disappears for the rest of the movie. The fate of Moore and Dreyfuss stands out as one. Even the character of David is not spared as he is mysteriously treated like a guy with superpowers - casually appearing at every convenient corner having casual sex with Lily and caught in a web of love involving two BFFs.

The struggle and angst of the two teens are further thickens when Lily stumbles upon Daddy having an affair with his patient and the unfortunate death of a parent respectively. Again these are just drama for the sake of drama and its potential never fully realized. All the while, Very Good Girls is content in spending a lot of time on Lily’s discovery of her sexuality and body, forgetting that the movie has lots more to offer.

The mother of Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal, Naomi Foner apparently pulled in lots of favours for her feature directorial debut to the extent that her son-in-law Peter Sarsgaard is not spared either. Sarsgaard ironically appears as Lily’s boss lusting for her flesh at every minute and he is for sure damn creepy. Apart from the spirited performances of Fanning and Oslen (both looking a tad too old for colleage girls), Very Good Girls is neither poignant nor does it justify itself as a valid statement on adolescence. The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a much better choice.    

Movie Rating:

(Fanning and Oslen shows lots of skin in this otherwise tepid and shallow movie about BFFs and love)

Review by Linus Tee