All I Wanna Do

Rating:
Summary: Great actresses, OK film
Review: I had been looking forward to this film since August 1998 when I saw a little blurb about it in a teen magazine. I couldn't wait to see it in theaters. Unfortunately, it never arrived in theaters here in Portland, and I didn't get to see it until just recently, on video. I guess waiting that long made me have unrealistic expectations for this movie. I thought it would be the best movie EVER or something. It's not . . . but it's still pretty good. "All I Wanna Do" is the story of a group of girls at a prep school who try to keep the school from going co-ed. Heather Matarazzo and Rachel Leigh Cook are both hilarious in this film, and Kirsten Dunst shines, as usual. There's some sexual innuendo in here that probably isn't appropriate for anyone under 13, hence the PG-13 rating. And the movie is free of action, suspense, or really a lot of plot. Still, the film's young actors and actresses save the film and make it watchable and worthwhile. Some parts are funny, some will make you think. Not a bad movie at all.

Rating:
Summary: A New Perspective
Review: I love this movie! I think it is so funny! Of course you'd really have to be a girl to understand that, but I am so that works out well. This movie is about a group of goofy girls at an all girls' school who don't want the boys intruding on their territory, and they'll do anything to keep it that way. First, I love it because it has Kirsten Dunst in it. I think that she is a great actress no matter what role she's in. The best part of this movie is, well...all of it! It is so funny! A must see!

Rating:
Summary: Great Movie, Espesially for Girls
Review: I love this movie! I think it is so funny! Of course you'd really have to be a girl to understand that, but I am so that works out well. This movie is about a group of goofy girls at an all girls' school who don't want the boys intruding on their territory, and they'll do anything to keep it that way. First, I love it because it has Kirsten Dunst in it. I think that she is a great actress no matter what role she's in. The best part of this movie is, well...all of it! It is so funny! A must see!

Rating:
Summary: A Gem
Review: I think that this movie hits on more important issues that took place in our past. The movie, which took place in the 1960's at a time when feminism was a nonexistant thing and men controlled and ordered women. Ms. Goddard's school is an all girls school where most of the students who attend there want it to be integrated with boys. Soon do the girls learn that it was not what they were looking for and seek some justice for the all girl school. Liberating and amazing in all shape and form it is truly a movie not to pass over.

Rating:
Summary: Cute film.
Review: I thought this film had originality, sure, there's been alot of films on boarding school, but this one was different. It was terribly cute in certain scenes and while cheesy, I think the fact that it had so many great unknown actresses (and actors) really made up for that. I got to see so many people I liked in one film that are rarely seen at all, let alone together.

The soundtrack is also really nice, though I don't think they sell it, they had it available on the films website before, but they've since taken the website down.

I suppose this would be called a 'chick flick', and it is. It would be cute to watch at a sleepover, with your girlfriends, or a mum and daughter would also enjoy watching it together.

Rating:
Summary: All I wanna Do
Review: I went into Blockbuster on a Saturday night with my best friend and we were just looking for a good movie to see.... We went by that movie and I picked it up (I noticed Reachel Leigh Cook on the cover) and we were like ..... what the heck. We went back home and started watching it....It was a good movie! I especially liked the part at the dance when the girls get the guys drunk! It was a trip... I personally liked that movie SOOOOOO Much!! 5 stars!!

Rating:
Summary: YOU GO, GIRLS!
Review: Interestingly, this movie takes place the same year that Betty Friedan wrote "The Feminine Mystique".
It begins in early 1963 when one Odette Sinclair, played by a rebellious but very charismatic Gaby Hoffman, is taken from her home in Michigan, horse in tow, to the Miss Godard's School for Girls in Connecticut by irate parents after she is caught planning a tryst with her boyfriend, Dennis (a still-slightly boyish Matthew Lawrence).
At first, she resents the change of atmosphere. But the solemn, tremulous girl soon finds companionship with a group of girls, who, although they can be antagonistic, encourage her to find other aspirations beyond having sex with her boyfriend. These include her two luminescent blonde roomates, the sexually mature Tinka,whose favorite colors to wear when she's out of uniform are red and black, and the ever-scheming Verena, deftly played by Monica Keena and Kirsten Dunst respectively.
Heather Matarazzo's bulimic Tweety is a rather weak-willed character, and Merrit Wever's Momo is strong and smart. Together, these girls form a secret organization called The Daughters of the American Ravioli, in which they pledge to help each other acheive their goals. One of the more immediate ones is to rid the school of their lecherous teacher Mr. Dewey, to whom his portrayer, Robert Bockstael, gives such understated underhandedness. At a time when sex crimes against students at the hands of teachers may have been underreported due to the fact that the teachers most likely would have gotten off, this makes an interesting subplot.
But 1963 was the beginning of the modern feminist movement, and these girls take matters into their own hands after the Board of Trustees threatens to merge the school with the St. Ambrose Boys Academy without giving the students any say in the matter. Using every non-violent rescource they have to gain the attention of authority figures, they ultimately help to bail their school out of the financial troubles that led to the decision to merge with the Boys' Academy, and we watch these girls assert themselves and find their voices in a way that might have been more unusual in 1963 than it would be today.
Lynn Redgrave leads the cast as the prudish but sympathetic headmistress of Miss Godard's with a very accurate New England accent (Notice how the statue of the school's foundress looks like her). What struck me about her appearance was mainly her outdated hairdo. The soft-spoken Abby Sawyer, portrayed by Rachel Leigh Cook, is the hall monitor and school legacy who takes a surpising(or perhaps not-so-surprising) turn. Rosemary Dunsmore is Abby's controlling and rather narrow-minded mother who, with her husband, serves on the Board of Trustees. Her role as Mrs. Sawyer is more than faintly reminiscent of her role in "Anne of Avonlea" in which she played another staff member at a girls' academy.
The party scene was fun to watch. It's interesting, though, how the only minority boy and the only minority boy and girl were paired off, which is how it most likely would have been done in 1963 to avoid complaints from the parents. The music is lively, the rowdy townies come in handy when it comes to putting the girls' tormentors in their place, the dresses and hairdos had a certain elegance and grace, and the cast members were talented and attractive, including the radiant Barbara Radecki and Phobe Lapine as Tinka's mom and sister.
Ultimately, this film is a bouncy 90-minute romp through the early modern feminist era which harmlessly pays homage to girl power.I feel upbeat and inspired after watching it!

Rating:
Summary: Did no one else find this movie as vacuous as I did?!
Review: It was so bad! Thank goodness I saw it on tv and didn't waste any money on it. I wish I could give it 0 stars instead of 1. The characters were forced and the plot was predictable. And "talented group of rising young actresses"? The only actress in this film with enough charisma to carry a full-length movie is Lynn Redgrave, and unfortunately the director didn't give her character nearly enough screen-time, or enough (any?) good speeches/dialogue. And I was more than a little disturbed by the film's careless handling of the bulimic girl - ipecac is a POISON, after all, and it's irresponsible to show it as a weight-loss tool, especially in a so-called feminist movie. I'm all for feminist & empowering films - but give me Legally Blonde over this any day.

Rating:
Summary: Did no one else find this movie as vacuous as I did?!
Review: It was so bad! Thank goodness I saw it on tv and didn't waste any money on it. I wish I could give it 0 stars instead of 1. The characters were forced and the plot was predictable. And "talented group of rising young actresses"? The only actress in this film with enough charisma to carry a full-length movie is Lynn Redgrave, and unfortunately the director didn't give her character nearly enough screen-time, or enough (any?) good speeches/dialogue. And I was more than a little disturbed by the film's careless handling of the bulimic girl - ipecac is a POISON, after all, and it's irresponsible to show it as a weight-loss tool, especially in a so-called feminist movie. I'm all for feminist & empowering films - but give me Legally Blonde over this any day.

Rating:
Summary: Awesome movie! Dunst rules!
Review: Kirsten Dunst delivers a fantastic performance in this movie. It is an absolutely hilarious movie that keeps your interests at all times. It is about a group of students at an all girls school that want to be heard. Some of the students will do anything to get what they want. I would recommend this comedy to everyone!