Slums of Beverly Hills | | Cast : | Natasha Lyonne, Alan Arkin | | Director : | Tamara Jenkins | | Studio : | Twentieth Century Fox | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen | | Released Date : | August 14, 1998 | | DVD Released Date : | December 17, 2002 | | Language : | French (Dubbed), English (Subtitled), English (Original Language), French (Original Language), Spanish (Subtitled) | | Audience Rating : | R (Restricted) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | August 08, 2005 | | Summary | Breasts aren't the problem, they're the whole show | Content
 | This is an funny independent movie about breasts. It pretends to be many other things, but it is essentially an urban comedy about breasts. At one point, one of the actresses says the problem is breasts. She was wrong, since breasts are the whole reason this movie exists.
The two female stars in this flick -- Natasha Lyonne, who is badly cast as an incoming high school freshman but looks more like a 21-year-old -- and Marisa Tomei both use stand ins to show off their breasts in separate scenes. These surely weren't Lyonne's breasts, since she used those things some people call candy dishes to enhance her bustline for the film. It's a good bet a stand in did the partial nude scenes of Tomei, also.
Aside from discussion (and regular appearance) of breasts, the movie revolves around a Beverly Hills family whose breadwinner (Alan Arkin) has no job and no money yet tries to maintain a Beverly Hills address so his three kids can attend school there. Not much happens with his two sons, one of whom is an aspiring actor.
That's because the movie is almost completely dedicated to the sex and social lives of the two female stars. It's a funny movie that holds your attention for 90 minutes but isn't what it pretends to be -- a "coming out" film about a young girl with a burgeoning bustline and sexuality.
This girl is about as young as Betty Crocker and about as innocent as the Beverly Hills madam. Still, this is a funny movie that will give you some laughs and avoids most of the formulaic pratfalls of Hollywood productions. |
| Rating | | | Date | August 09, 2004 | | Summary | just PASSING thru...... | Content
| While not exceptionally deep, this low-key, slice-of-life, coming-of-age comedic drama effectively captures an era and asks the question, "What is life about?" without overexplaining and insulting our intelligence. It's not overly commercial like most movies of its type that rely heavily on old music and other material things to recreate the past; it has the right balance of essential elements that prevent it from being a cariacature. "Slums of Beverly Hills" shows that even the so-called small, imperfect life can be beautiful and grand through the fascinating people and experiences in our memory that make us feel alive. It was especially nostaligic for me, being born and raised in California where the story is set; the seventies just aren't the seventies unless your're right where it happened. What holds it back from being a great film is (in the face of stark realism) rather unconvincing dialogue and responses, a reality tv tendency to fall back on toilet humor, and the characters' complete overall lack of emotional growth. |
| Rating | | | Date | August 02, 2004 | | Summary | Fantastic, funny, and wise | Content
| This is without a doubt one of my favorite movies. Natasha Lyonne gives a sensitive, hysterical performance as a girl coming of age in less-than conventional circumstances. A realistic story with first-class acting, lots of laughs, and a spectacularly awkward take on growing up female in America. |
| Rating | | | Date | June 03, 2004 | | Summary | A COMEDY THAT'S NOT THAT FUNNY | Content
| ...or maybe it isn't meant to be funny? At any rate, if there's a reason to applaud this critically acclaimed indie, it's the performance of Natasha Lyonne in the focal role of Vivian.
Lyonne captures to a tee the ultimately frightening world of being a teenager on the verge of becoming a woman. Lyonne hits all the right notes, whether it's in lamenting her enormous boobs (a gag that gets old after a while) or exploring her cousin's vibrator (a remarkable scene with no dialogue that conveys the innocence of youth and shows what a fine actress Lyonne is). Alan Arkin lends good support as her father, but his performance is too one note to show us the real anguish he is feeling. His scene with Oscar winner Marisa Tomei in which he tells her how lonely he is is handled very well. Jessica Walter is around briefly as the new love interest in Arkin's life, and she does a beautiful job too. Tomei is adequate, but not entirely believable. Carl Reiner and Rita Moreno make a brief but memorable appearance as Tomei's parents.
All in all, this is a tender slice of life dramedy, but I wish it had been a little funnier. |
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