| All I Wanna Do [a.k.a. The Hairy Bird a.k.a Strike!] |
Filmed under the title THE HAIRY BIRD and released regionally in the USA and in Canada as STRIKE!, this smart, engagingly performed film is aiming for a wider audience, and hopefully will find its primary target -- teenage girls who might use their considerable financial clout and support under the new title of ALL I WANNA DO. Screenwriter Sarah Kernochan makes an auspicious directorial debut with this tale of an all-girls boarding school circa 1963 that is faced with the prospect of merging with an all-male institution. While that may hardly seem to be relevant to today's young teens, it may assist them in better understanding their mothers' generation and to see the early origins of "grrl power". Kernochan has drawn on her own experiences at Rosemary Hall, the tony girls' institution that merged in the mid-60s with the boys' school Choate as the jumping off point for ALL I WANNA DO. Odie (Gaby Hoffman, proving once again just how enchanting a screen presence she can be) has been banished to Miss Godard's Prep School for Girls when her parents learn of a planned tryst with her boyfriend Dennis (Matthew Lawrence, upping the hunk factor). On the surface the other girls appear to be somewhat stereotypical -- Momo (Merrit Weaver) is the smart one, Tinka (a blonde Monica Keena) is the one with loose morals, Tweety (Heather Matarazzo) binges and purges, Abby (Rachael Leigh Cook) is the uptight do-gooder and Verena (Kirsten Dunst) is her diametrical opposite, the schemer of the bunch -- but Kernochan manages to make each an individual. (Credit must go equally to the clever screenplay and to the talented cast.) Odie falls in with Verena and her crew and engages in several mischiefs, like attempting to plant a pornographic magazine on a much despised male teacher, or trying to fool the stern but compassionate headmistress (Lynn Redgrave). Their biggest challenge comes when Verena hatches a ploy to stop the proposed merger by making the boys look bad during a visit to the girls' school. The repercussions force the young women to examine their dreams and goals and to recognize their potential. Just as the feminist movement was aborning, the students at Miss Goddard's address their futures and the various possibilities. "No more little white gloves" becomes their rallying cry. The ensemble cast work well together, with each of the main figures having a "moment" to shine. Hoffman anchors the picture as Odie, who dreams of nothing short of a political career. Dunst adds layers to the vampy persona she has begun to assume as she has matured. Keena scores as the girl who is more than aware of her feminine wiles and how to ply them. Matarazzo displays a winning charm as a teenager uncomfortable in her developing body while Weaver, in the least showy role, still manages to impress. In a twist, the male roles are mostly for show although Vincent Kartheiser (as a townie attracted to Tinka) and Thomas Guiry as a preppie contribute nice performances. Most of the adult roles are negligible except for Redgrave, who offers her usual sterling support, replete with a Mid-Atlantic accent. Some may look at ALL I WANNA DO as a pleasant period piece about teenage girls, and while 1963 may seem like a long time ago, this film still has relevance to today's young woman. Positive female role models preaching empowerment and self-reliance are unfortunately not the norm in Hollywood films. When actresses face losing their careers at the age of 30 or 35 because they are deemed too old, it becomes all too clear that not much has fundamentally changed in the last four decades. Rating: B |
| © 2008 by C. E. Murphy. All Rights Reserved. |