All the Real Girls (2003) User Reviews

First Love: Appalachia or Gotham, the Pain's the Same

[lawprof · 8/10 · 6 April 2003]

Low budget and low tech, director David Gordon Green's "All the Real Girls" first struck viewer nerves at Sundance and it will do so everywhere.

Set in Appalachia with shots of the beautiful mountains juxtaposed with a town that never knew prosperity and is left behind in today's North Carolina where the Research Triangle is where it's at, this is a truly affecting and universal story of first love. It's told honestly, without either director's affectation or cast overacting. The story has soul.

Zooey Deschanel plays, outstandingly, a girl, "Noel," returned from boarding school where she's been since age twelve. She plays the trombone and doesn't want to go to college. She's never had a real job and seems not to have acquired much if any ambition or sophistication while away from home. She's a virgin and it's clear that hardly any of her contemporaries who didn't leave town are even remotely chaste. In fact, the suggestion is that most sleep with virtually all the young guys. Including two, "Paul," played by Paul Schneider and his best friend "Tip," portrayed with a brooding intensity by Shea Wigham. Tip is also Noel's brother and protective of her he is. So when his formerly carefree gangbanging bud, Paul, falls head over heels for Noel and she reciprocates he has issues.

The story is universal: the joy and pain of a serious first love, the pitfalls of communication, the unawareness of how words told and events improvidently related can be like mines going off. The simple but inevitable price exacted by inexperience and not just sexual.

There is a quiet and achingly familiar reality to Noel's and Paul's relationship. Anyone honest will recognize himself or herself from some early life. Anyone who genuinely doesn't has missed some pain but at a price. Director Green unflinchingly unravels the mysteries of growing wiser, a necessary but in some ways sad departure from innocence.

Without drugs or crime or a social commentary on the moribund economy of a gorgeous region, the film focuses on the two young people and their families and friends. They are recognizable, worthy of caring about.

When Paul, trying to understand Noel's not wholly consistent emotions and actions, blurts out that he's not that smart, a number of people in the audience chortled and several yelled out "No, you're not." They didn't understand that his comment wasn't self-denigratory but a nakedly honest confession of confusion and fear of loss. Haven't we all experienced that?

8/10.

Real and Simple Love Story

[claudio_carvalho · 7/10 · 2 November 2005]

In a small town, Paul (Paul Schneider) and Tip (Shea Whigham) are best friends, and Paul is the great seducer, having shagged twenty-six girls in the town. When Tip's sister Noel (Zooey Deschanel) and Paul date and fall in love for each other, the friendship of Tip and Paul is shaken. After a short trip of Noel to a house nearby a lake with her girlfriends, the relationship of Paul and Noel changes.

"All the Real Girls" is a very real and simple love story. The situations in this low-budget movie are very convincing, and the cast is really good. Zooey Deschanel is a really a beautiful woman, has a stunning performance and shows a great chemistry with Paul Schneider. The participation of Patricia Clarkson in a support role is excellent as usual. The open end fits adequately to this single and awarded romance. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Prova de Amor" ("Proof of Love")

Slow, dreamy, poetic look and first love won and lost

[Scoopy · 7/10 · 19 January 2003]

World premiere at SUNDANCE 2003. Has a distributor (Sony) and will be in limited release on February 14

OFFICIAL PLOT SUMMARY: Twenty-two-year-old Paul lives with his beloved mom and works as a grease monkey in a broken down North Carolina mill town. Unambitious, he has a devoted circle of rowdy friends and a reputation as a callous heartbreaker. When he meets his best friend's sister Noel, fresh from her boarding school graduation, the two fall into a perfect, real, terrifying love. They share innermost secrets and inhabit a sweet, dreamy bubble of mutual admiration and understanding.

COMMENTS: The film has to be accepted on its own terms. Slow-paced, sensitive, and dreamy, it gets deep inside of its characters. Paul may be a callous seducer, but he's so gentle with the girl he loves, that he won't even take her virginity when they get a hotel room. When she makes some mistakes that he considers betrayal, this blue-collar tough guy is just as heartbroken and emotionally vulnerable as anybody with more "refinement". Although he is a mechanic in a Southern podunk town, his character is portrayed without any Southern or working class stereotypes.

It's a collaborative movie made by college buddies. Director David Gordon Green and star Paul Schneider also co-wrote the screenplay, and went to college together. Editor Zene Baker is another college buddy. I suppose you might truly call this a true collaboration. Green has the title of director, but when your two best buds are also your editor and screenwriter, not to mention the fact that one of them is on camera constantly, it's difficult to say where one person's contribution ends and another's begins.

If you would enjoy a slice of life comedy/drama that will probably evoke many memories of how you felt when you won and then lost your first love, this is an effective and heartfelt personal statement about that moment of time. The small town locales and the original score work to perfection.

Not the way we were in the Hollywood sense, and maybe not a big box office kind of picture, but an insightful look at the way we really were.

These young fellas are good, dawg!

Slow, pretty film

[j_nevada59 · 10 February 2004]

I knew that "All the Real Girls" was going to receive a pretty intense amount of backlash for its sparseness, but damn if there aren't some pretty hostile remarks here, (haha). Can't say that I blame people for dissing it though. I, surprisingly, found myself having a lot more patience for this film then I thought. It could be because I live relatively close to the town where it was filmed, (well kind of, Raleigh's about 3-4 hours from Asheville), and found it to be a relatively accurate portrayal of young folks living in a small, North Carolina mountain town. In an environment like this you have tight-knit communities, close friendships, not much of an economic prospect, (hence all the late-20 something kids still living with their parents), very blissful scenery, and plenty of room for dreaming.

Paul, to me, is a very believable character as is his situation. He kind of fits the stereotype of a tough, damaged dreamer, but his awkwardness with Zoe and his playful monkeying with his friends and family break him of the James Dean mold. His character seems to have been very carefully crafted as to not fall into any cliches. Paul is certainly not the smartest individual, but he wears his heart on his sleeve and and seems just emotionally "open" enough. Though he's essentially in the same boat as his friends, (endless monotony in a small town, seeming to go nowhere, etc.), he does possess some sustenance that his friends don't seem to have. Paul has burnt all of his bridges in regards to his cynical romantic life, but he still has hope that there is more for life to offer. Paul's tainted image as a heartbreaker and a user is never very visible, but his willingness to express his regret and desire to change provide his character with some pretty rugged layering. He wishes to come to terms with his past, but wants to move forward as a better, changed man. Paul is delighted at the discovery of finding true love, but is also scared of losing it.

I enjoyed the rest of the characters as well. The tough, older brother of the girl you love- (Tip), the clown- (Bust Ass, his extra scenes on the DVD are a riot), the quiet, philosophical friend- (Bo), the damaged, but sweet natured, uncle, the desperate, but loving, mother. All of them were very real to me. Their subtlety and simple dialogue really brought this film to life for me, (though the subtlety seems to be what loses most viewers).

I'm not sure films of this nature should come with some kind of "be prepared for slow pacing and little action" warning, but they certainly are not everyone. For me, I enjoyed every cinematic sweep of the Asheville Mountains as well as the very realistic emotional intensity that mounted between all the characters. The soundtrack was equally amazing. Every song was perfectly placed and not overused. This is the first film I've seen by this director, and I look forward to any other he will make.

plot tarnishes tone

[lewreid · 7/10 · 15 January 2004]

A perfect movie to watch if you're in the mood to just chill out and watch the sunset but it's already dark. It offers the meditative sensation of Baraka combined with a nearly pitch perfect portrayal of a small town slice of life topped off with an inherently interesting 'young love' story. My only thoughts for the filmmaker (and in my opinion a significant oversight) would be to figure out how to wrap up the story without affecting the tone... the last quarter felt tedious as you began to expect the traditional dramatic/thematic resolution and therefore anticipate the number of scenes to come; which work best when you're not intellectually involved but emotionally - or even better - intuitively involved.... once the brain clicks in, the experience becomes of one of anticipation and with a film like this, impatience.

Nice movie

[Samiam3 · 7/10 · 29 August 2009]

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.

The realest (read: least insipid) relationship film I've seen in ages.

[vandenfromcamden · 10/10 · 17 February 2003]

I went into this movie with absolutley no expectations, and it seems I was better off than a lot of people who reviewed it negatively. This is by far one of the best, most realistic romance films (or films in general) I've ever seen. Not everyone likes to be beaten over the head by unrealistic Cinderella stories, and this movie is perfect for people who are sick of funny and romantic "romps." Not to say it isn't both funny and romantic, because it is. It's just strikingly different from most. I loved the stark cinematography, the beautifully understated and timeless soundtrack and, most of all, the superbly real acting in this film. (Patricia Clarkson is God.) I enjoy the human comedy, even when it doesn't end on a tradtionally happy note, and this is right up there with "Harold and Maude" in my list of favorite relationship movies ever. The bottom line is this movie made me feel. Sometimes happy and sometimes sad, I never found myself disinterested in what would happen next. No, I don't recommend it if you're looking for the next "My Big Fat Greek Wedding." But if you're looking to feel something and can handle a film with pacing that allows you to analyze your emotions between scenes, this is it. Of course, it also helps that Paul Schneider is the cutest, quirkiest guy I've seen break down in a long time. Likewise, Zooey Deschanel's performance was authentic and devastating. I loved this movie.

I know I love you because I hurt when you're not around so to assure myself of that I stay away even though I love you which is why I hurt all the time....etc.

[=G= · 6/10 · 21 August 2003]

"All The Real Girls" is a kind of contempo hillbilly love story which looks too long and too hard at one not very bright young adult couple as they stumble and bumble through the vicissitudes of love in bloom. On the up side, the film offers beautiful cinematography and solid performances by some fresh faces. On the down side, the film plumbs the depths of a couple of characters with little depth to plumb making for a watch which eventually grows tiresome. At this writing, IMDB.com stats show this film to be a guy flick with little appreciation by more mature audiences. The glowing critical reviews and the paltry 4.9 from the top 1000 viewers show what a mixed bag this flick is. Best saved for broadcast. (B-)

Quietly Amazing

[augiegus2001 · 9/10 · 16 December 2005]

All the Real Girls This is possibly the most accurate film about coming of age in small town America. It does this two ways first as other reviewers have noted the cast in the film portrays a realistic group of people making the best of it in a small town. Their behaviors are ordinary and often verge on boring much like a "normal person" in a small town, and not what Hollywood would have us believe youth/people are like. Upon further reflection I realize anyone outside of the norm really sticks out in this film in an awkward if not contemptible way. For the youth it is basically a waiting age for the big thing that will enhance their lives. I do not believe any of the young characters had much of anything resembling a job. They young cast of men hang out at a salvage yard and help/get in the way through the movie. The older characters are stoic and though they say little you get a feeling that they have seen it all before possibly in their own lives or of others.

The second amazing thing about this film is how well it captures the pace of small town life. It is repetitive and monotonous but in the stillness maybe one is capable of seeing more beauty then in faster paced places. I have never been to a North Carolina mill town and till this film never even thought about one but the filming of the area is very well done showing beauty where you least expect it be it the rain in a textile factor or someone going "Shhh shh".

On these two factors alone I'd recommend this film but the acting and story is very solid. It has been over a year since I viewed the film but the images still come to mind rather vividly, but the names of the characters escape me so I will leave that to others. I do not know who directed this film or for that matter recognized any of the actors but that is more of a testament of how strong of a work this film is and I highly recommend it.

can't buy Schneider

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 17 April 2016]

Paul (Paul Schneider) hangs out with his friends Tip (Shea Whigham), Bust-Ass (Danny McBride), and Bo (Maurice Compte) in their small town. Paul is known as the town's ladies' man. He's been with every girl but only in short flings. Tip's sister Noel (Zooey Deschanel) comes home after boarding school. Noel is a virgin and thoughtful. Paul falls for her but Tip does not approve.

I don't really buy Schneider as this character. He doesn't fit but an indie can have casting problems like this sometimes. It is still very distracting. On the other hand, Zooey Deschanel is wonderful. It's a slow touching romance. The central conceit of Paul is tough to overcome. This is still a nice indie with some charms.

All the Real Bores

[dr_foreman · 2/10 · 15 February 2010]

Nothing grates quite so much as a "realistic" film that contains practically no realism at all.

To its credit, "All the Real Girls" really *tries* to be true-to-life. But the dialog and performances don't convince. Characters in this film are constantly doing and saying quirky, bizarre things that real people never do or say.

For example, in one of many strange "romantic" scenes, the female lead says to her boyfriend: "I had a dream last night that you were growing a garden on a trampoline. And I was so happy that I invented peanut butter." So, what are we to make of this bizarre nugget of dialog? Is it "sentimental"? Is it "deep"? And is it the kind of thing that I would say on a date? (I'll answer the last question for you -- "no.") It's none of those things, it's just ridiculous ... the product of a strange, artificial mode of speech peculiar to American art-house movies.

In another weird moment, our romantic leads are standing in an inexplicably deserted bowling alley (did they break in after hours?) The guy says to his girlfriend something like, "I wanna dance, but I don't want you to watch me. Turn around." So she turns around. And then he dances like a doofus. Do even goofy teenagers behave like this on dates? And am I really supposed to believe that this awkward-as-anything guy is a ladies' man, as we are repeatedly told (but not actually shown)?

Other exciting scenes involve a lengthy discussion of what's better to eat for breakfast, pancakes or eggs; a woman in a clown costume declaring something like "I used to be beautiful, but now I am this clown"; and a scuffle in which an unimportant character gets beaten severely and choked, and is then totally forgotten about by all the other characters, the director, and the screenwriter. One of many strange lapses in a film of lapses.

So, if your idea of a good time is to spend almost two hours in indie movie hell, watching a non-plot crawl along at the pace of a half-dead snail, while two superficial and thinly drawn characters alternate between flirting ridiculously and exchanging depressing anecdotes on their path to falling in a desperately superficial form of love ... well then, this may be the motion picture for you. I, for one, will be watching something like "Smiles of a Summer Night" or "Terror of Mechagodzilla" instead.

As a sensitive guy, the most romantic film I've seen in a long time.

[Howlin Wolf · 10/10 · 22 October 2005]

... It captures perfectly the awkwardness of really loving somebody, but not being sure how to take it a stage further without destroying what's been built up. As a viewer, you'll most likely believe in the central relationship and not want it to hit problems; because YOU wouldn't want it to end, either, if you were in their situation. It's underscored throughout by a wonderfully gentle soundtrack, too.

There are long sequences of elegiac wistfulness; staring out over beautiful scenery. With 9 films out of ten that try this tactic, I would get impatient, choosing to believe that this is a director's underhanded way of trying to pad out the runtime. Not here. The sense of loss evoked by the visuals and the mournful score is absolutely key to the films emotional impact. If for some reason you're not tuned into the mood; then I can imagine this style would be annoying; but I found myself completely immersed, and it was great. This is the first film from David Gordon Green I've come across, but I shall be eagerly on the lookout for the rest of his stuff in the future, based on this wonderful evidence.

Real Girl Gone Wild

[meeza · 6/10 · 5 July 2004]

`All the Real Girls' is not based on what is gradually becoming a minority group of women which still possess natural breasts. Ok! Don't curse at me! I do not want to be entrapped in a `tit for tit, I mean tit for tat' situation. `All the Real Girls' is an independent film dealing with the standard indie theme of `forbidden love in Small Town America'. Zooey Deschanel stars as Noel, a whiney & inextricable gal who at times seemed that her concentration was not tuned in to the right `chanel'. This Noel is a `lost clause I mean cause'. Noel falls for her brother's best friend Paul, played by newcomer Paul Schneider. Paul is a small town lothario who has practically seduced & dumped all the real girls of his small town. Well, predictably our protagonists fall head over heels for each other. However, they must overcome such obstacles as: a domineering alcoholic brother, a gossip-occupied town, and a sexual identity crisis. Various film critics overpraised `All The Real Girls'. Hopefully, all the real critics will realize that this is a threadbare & stale film about love in a small town. I must do admit that I was impressed by Deschanel's work here. `Zooey's summer small town groove' was on with her ardent performance. Guys, do not take all you real girls to see `All The Real Girls'! Instead go take them to see `All The Kneel Girls'! I hope this review didn't blow it! *** Average

Over-rated, big-time!

[talltale-1 · 4/10 · 7 January 2004]

Here's another movie that too many critics have jumped up and down over and that finally disappoints. There is nothing wrong with trying to bring a fresh take to the love story, but to do this, one needs characters that are truly real and worth spending nearly two hours with. This film begin well, and the two leads draw you in, but then their characters start behaving so stupidly that eventually there's little point in remaining attuned. The photography is first-class, and the acting (when the script permits) is generally good. But this is now two films from David Gordon Green that--if you listen to the critics--promise much but deliver little.

First True Love is beautiful. And it hurts.

[noralee · 16 March 2003]

"All the Real Girls" is a beautiful effort by writer/director David Gordon Green to visualize inarticulate people as they struggle with love.

The scenic North Carolina landscape surrounds the characters as they seek, unsuccessfully, for comparable inner beauty with romance and family. But human interactions can't be as perfect as a sunset.

Every person here is hurting in some way (including a widower uncle and a developmentally disabled brother), and if they aren't in the beginning they are by the end as they have to learn to stop idealizing the people they love, who can't live up to that. Some reconcile to it, some can't, and none can explain it.

In this small town, everyone knows everyone's business and heart and can't walk away from that intimacy. While that is realistic and the dialogue is very naturalistic, it's a bit unsatisfying to watch as a romantic drama.

Hunky co-creator Paul Schneider (strikingly like young Kevin Costner) sets up the confusion when he tries to convince us he's the town heartbreaker; I did not pick up for quite awhile that he was supposed to be such a bad boy as he just seemed so sweet from the first scene on. His laidback scenes with aggressive Zooey Deschanel are full of such tenderness as the full force of First True Love hits them, that the disappointments that follow are are quite the downer.

"Tully" had very similar character and story arcs, and, while schmaltzier, was more satisfying as a movie experience.

The alt-country instrumental and song soundtrack, including Mark Olson & the Creekdippers, is quite poignant.

All the Real Girls (2003)

[MartinTeller · 7/10 · 12 January 2012]

I feel like on a different day I might have liked this a lot more. I just felt like it was trying too hard to be "honest" or something. Too much buzzy, gentle, ambient music and too many instances of people inarticulately saying something that's accidentally profound, know what I mean? David Gordon Green is doing everything he can not to get too big, but there's a transparency to to the quietude that annoyed me. I liked the sentiments being expressed, there's some lovely touches, and Zooey Deschanel is surprisingly not that bad. I just didn't care enough about these characters to be more than mildly interested.

7/10

Disjointed

[Swambi · 6/10 · 2 October 2004]

Good music, great cinematography, wonderful scenery - but sorry, just no story!

The film intentionally jumps between a wide range of different scenes and shots at a generally rapid pace, rather like a slide show, and ends up loosing the plot. The viewer is left with far too many puzzles to unravel, and too many questions unanswered. The acting is only mediocre. As a result it is just not possible to identify with or get involved in the film, and in spite of the beautiful filming it never really gets going in terms of human interest!

Unusual (and good) filming features include quite a few speeded up shots e.g. clouds. The sound is excellent too, with a clever scene in the park where two conversations are heard simultaneously - just as you might in real life, with the camera panning back and forth between the different groups. Another scene in the motel includes good background sound from the next room etc. But it still doesn't save the film!

10/10 A Masterpiece; Ebert was the Only Critic to Get It

[awl7788 · 10/10 · 22 August 2018]

Judging by the reviews here and the critics on Rotten Tomatoes, this is a so-so movie with a few good moments. Ebert seems to be the only critic who loved it and understood the film. It's not hard to understand and has no secret hidden meaning or anything; the movie is poetic, subtle and perceptive.

The setting for the film, a small factory town in North Carolina during autumn, adds so much character to the movie. Every character we follow, each one fully fleshed out and given a satisfying conclusion to their roll, has grown up in this town and they talk of life and all it's uncertainty. Some talk of their new found happiness, others reflect on their silly youthful behavior and the new life coming with eagerness to be grown up. Each scene is masterful; framed so effectively for each conversation taking place. Take the opening scene for example- two lovers behind an out of focus brick building during a cool fall night, pipes in the background quietly emitting steam into the air, our characters talking quietly of romantic inhibitions and not being caught. It's pure art and the entire movie is like this.

I had recently watched David Gordon Green's George Washington, Undertow, and Joe. Each one is excellent and I thought this would also be good, but I didn't expect it to do to me what it did. I think I get why some people don't like it, they have probably never been in love or are jealous of others who are. This movie is for every hopeless romantic or anyone who felt the raw emotion that comes with a chilly late night rendezvous on the river bank, curled up, staying warm, and talking of life's riddles with the one they love.

Fall around the junkyard never looked so good.

[bobparker · 7/10 · 15 November 2004]

It seems like a coming of age film, but everyone has moved through so much of innocence that all that is left are real feelings. And finding out that feelings can be pleasure and pain.

The photography is beautiful, including the grittiness of the rust belt. There are beautiful scenes of the factories. These are put in contrast to the beauty of the lakes, hills, rivers.

At 1st you feel like screaming to everyone - GET OUT, get out now before you see your life slip away. But as we take the time to learn the characters, two other thoughts come to mind. First, you are too stupid to be in the 'real' world. And then as we continue to explore these characters, we learn that there is a charm and beauty of the area that might make putting up with small town limitations a reasonable trade (for some).

Friends, fornication, and a female

[StevePulaski · 9/10 · 26 August 2013]

If George Washington didn't cement the notion that David Gordon Green was an ambitious, careful new writer-director, his sophomore film All the Real Girls should do the honors. Here is a soft, warm, and often frighteningly realistic portrayal of a young relationship in the south, burdened by pasts no one wants to talk about and futures no one is really sure of. This is yet another film where Green magnifies tight-knit relationships in seemingly desolate communities.

The film stars Paul Schneider and Zooey Deschannel (who, with short hair in later scenes, looks strikingly like actress Greta Gerwig) as Paul and Noel. Paul lives with his mother, who works as a clown at children's hospitals, and has a reputation for being a womanizer who shies away from long-term relationships. Noel is a more mature, if quirkier, young woman and the two hit it off when they first meet. Paul hangs around with a group of guys, one of whom is played by Danny McBride, and loves to have vulgar, immature dialogs. But when he hangs with Noel, he has much more intimate, mature conversations, as they see eye-to-eye on much more than they'd believe.

What unfolds is a truly beautiful relationship, one where the idea of sex crosses the mind but isn't directly acted upon. This is because Paul genuinely cares about Noel's feelings, and because of this, acts in a more restrained, conservative manner. If he didn't feel so attached to her, he would've easily had sex with her a few days after knowing her and perhaps add her to the laundry list of girls he slept with in a week or so. But he becomes so close with her that it frightens him, and makes him think about how his life my change with this woman.

This story wouldn't have worked half as well with lesser screen presences. Schneider and Deschannel provide leverage emotionally and narratively that wouldn't exist if the shoes of Paul and Noel were filled by performances more driven by beauty and a script more concerned with petty mawkishness. I constantly see young girls - and older ones, too - flock towards the latest film adaptations of Nicholas Sparks novels, with incredulous romances, trite instances, and utterly lame characters. The harmful effect with those films are they provide audiences, particularly females with the idea that relationships like this actually exist and picturesque beauty is a commonality in the deepest of relationships. I would recommend the same crowd All the Real Girls if I knew my recommendation wouldn't be instantly discarded when they realizes how independent, subtle, and serene the film actually is.

The glue holding the film together is the score, which combines that kind of rare beauty in certain instances that would seem trivial if they weren't made noteworthy in some way. The score livens common events in the characters' lives like talking, cuddling, walking, or simple scenic shots of the south. The cinematography is done by Tim Orr, the same man who made the dreary, urban landscape of North Carolina a character in Green's George Washington. Needless to say, after providing that film with such incomparable beauty, his work here is equally impressive.

All the Real Girls doesn't blind the viewer with potency in symbolism and subtlety like that film, but it makes for just as engaging of a viewing. It offers a study on a believable relationships that one is hardpressed to find in other romantic films. Just like most independent films, it isn't complete unless there are a few questionable instances, and one in particular, I can see angering viewers. It's so odd and undeveloped that it leaves a bit of a pungent aftertaste after seeing such a deep, intimate picture. But that's film.

Starring: Paul Schneider, Zooey Deschanel, and Danny McBride. Directed by: David Gordon Green.

A real couple?

[stensson · 7/10 · 18 November 2003]

Love affairs are usually not viewed in this manner. Not even in the "Independents". There is no glamor here, just life. He is the town playboy, rather near the White Trash limit. She has never before met anybody whom she wanted to speak to for more than five minutes. That, however, doesn't stop her from having a son.

They live a life in a region of USA they probably never will leave. Maybe they will leave that region emotionally. Maybe or maybe not. The girl prefers a relationship with another man who is just a friend and the one she loves will probably only smash the window of his car sometimes. And that's it.

There is probably no solution in this good movie about people who are anything but heroes.

I was really pulling for this film...

[STMedia · 1/10 · 11 July 2011]

I saw this film when it was released in Asheville NC.

Asheville, of course is the hometown of Paul Schneider, who plays the lead and co-wrote the screenplay. Asheville is also listed as the filming location, though that's not entirely true. The majority of the outdoor scenes were filmed in the small town of Marshall, which is about 30 minutes outside Asheville.

As a resident of the area, I was certainly pulling for the film, as were many others. Asheville is an unusually sophisticated town when it comes to the arts. For instance, with a population of just under 70,000, it has a symphony, an opera company, and even a professional (equity) theater company. The little town is bursting at the seams with extremely talented creative people so I had every reason to expect great things from this film. Unfortunately, I could not have been more disappointed.

If you approach this film assuming that it is an independent work of genius, (as some here have described it) It's possible that when you arrive at the end of the film you could continue to believe that, since the power of artistic suggestion can be strong. However, if you take it at face value, chances are you'll arrive at the end of the film wondering how the film has gotten as far as it has. There is certainly nothing "real" about the characters or the relationships. Spend some time here in Appalachia. You don't have to have been born here to figure out that the people portrayed in this film don't exist.

I don't need a film to have a clearly discernible plot, and I'm quite happy for it to move slowly, but this film doesn't really have anything to offer. Story? There isn't one that is compelling or believable. Characters? Zooey Deschanel (who has become a truly great actress) is far more interesting in interviews ABOUT the film than her character is IN it, and she's the only character I could muster any interest in.

Honestly, the film comes off as the kind of thing a group of not particularly gifted high school kids might come up with given the time and help of a good cinematographer.

I'm truly baffled at the positive reviews. Consider the overall score and the box office. It was a financial flop, despite fairly wide international distribution, the kiss of Sundance and a tiny 2.5mil budget.

If you want to see a film that has "real" characters that truly reflects rural people, see Winter's Bone. In fact, if you gave this film a positive review, go see Winter's Bone, watch this one again and then re-write your review.

Young Love in the Country!

[shepardjessica · 8/10 · 10 July 2004]

I love slow-paced films about this sort of thing (young contemporary love, no blasting Britney on the radio, no tattoo, no rebelling), but confused searching young folks. It sure helps when you have a lovely creature like Zooey Deschanel as the young woman. If this actress doesn't get in Hollywood trouble, she could be a youthful acting force if she doesn't blow it. The young man was fine too. I haven't seen George Washington, the director's last film, but would love to.

This made my Top Ten of the year (I always see at least 70 a year) and I doubt it ever played in a theater. Nice pace, interesting story-line and HUMANS, which you rarely seen in a movie nowadays (no matter what age the characters are). An 8 out of 10. Highly recommended! Best performance Zooey Deschanel.

Realistic love story

[ArizWldcat · 7/10 · 11 February 2003]

I was lucky enough to see this at Sundance (2003) and what a treat. David Gordon Green has a lot of potential as a director and it shows in this film. It's a sweet story set in a small town in North Carolina. The main character (Paul Schneider) has a reputation as a philanderer. When his best friend's sister comes home from a long stint at a boarding school, he falls hard for her. He wants to do things right by her and has so much respect for her that he cannot even have sex with her when they get a motel room together. The two slowly build a relationship, but unfortunately for him, she's not ready and makes a mistake. The results are painful yet realistic to watch. What a lovely film; I highly recommend it.

unbearably slow but fixable

[finetunes · 1/10 · 26 April 2014]

How is the pace fixable? if you play it with the VCL media player on your computer you can speed up it up, I chose 10% and it really helped. But it doesn't fix the movie entirely by any means. The lead characters don't really communicate, Paul Schneider's character mostly says nothing and Zoey Deshanel's character's dialog mainly consisted of either not knowing what to say or not knowing how to say it. (at least not until the end.)

Spoilers until the next paragraph - There was no substantial way that they could build a relationship with that level of communication nor could it be based on the sex factor. The strong relationship was just not believable. Also, it's not believable that Paul Schneider's character suddenly went from being a callous a..hole at a loyal dedicated partner.

I felt the movie was too chopped up in the beginning and made the movie confusing and hard to follow. Zoey Dashanel is one of my favorite actresses and I go into her movies with good points in it's favor. But I really can't recommend the movie at all.