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"Risky Business" redux
Risky Business never goes out of style, it just keeps getting remade, this time as The Girl Next Door (R). Emile Hirsch (The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys) gets the Tom Cruise-style role from the 1983 flick as Matthew, an honor student with scholarship dreams whose hormones are getting in the way. The new neighbor Danielle (Elisha Cuthbert, TV's 24), who doesn't know how to close her window shades, is a porn movie star. Before you can say "old time rock 'n' roll" they're dating.
It sounds like a high school freshman's fantasy, so it's strange that Twentieth Century Fox took an R rating, shutting out anyone younger than 17 (unless their friends are tearing tickets).
Like Cruise's character, Matthew gets intimidated by Danielle's past. Not Guido the pimp but Hugo Posh (James Remar), her porn-flick producer, and an ex-boyfriend (Timothy Olyphant) for good measure. Unlike the Risky Business hero, Matthew doesn't try making his own profits off what Danielle does best. He wants to be a politician and he wants her going legit and standing by his side. Just what every election needs: a porn scandal.
The Girl Next Door wasn't screened for Weekend review.
- STEVE PERSALL, Times film critic