Rating: 
Summary: Like Going To My Own Reunion
Review: The story line of this movie is set at the ten year high school reunion. Listening to the characters was like going to my own reunion. I saw myself and my buddies in these characters. What a classic this is! With an all-star cast including Timothy Hutton, Matt Dillon, Lauren Holly, rosie O'Donnell, natalie Portman, Michael Rapaport, Martha Plimpton, Uma Thurman and Mira Sorvino and a wonderfully matched soundtrack this movie is hard to top. Will (Timothy Hutton) is trying to figure out the path his life will take, should he get married or not. But he is intrigued by the little girl next door and starts to think that his future wife may be a bit ordinary. Add to the mix Uma Thurman's out of town character that is beautiful and witty and Will is getting more muddled all the time. The local boys plow snow, drink beer and have affairs with married women, date women for nine years without proposing and raise kid with not clue how to do it. All real life things that we see everyday with ordinary people. A movie that should not be missed, that an be watched over and over and will make you laugh and ponder the relationships that people get into.
Rating:
Summary: Overlooked gem
Review: I really prefer the big screen, and I've purchased few DVDs but I bought Beautiful Girls because it's the kind of movie that stands up to multiple viewings. The reasons are simple: the conflicts in the story -- and there are several -- are complex and don't resolve easily or completely; the cast is very good, with Mira Sorvino and Natalie Portman shining as Beautiful Girls who have yet to be fully discovered; the pace is crisp and the dialog is not overwritten ( the clever parts are not self-consciously so ); and again, there's Natalie Portman. I find it difficult to imagine that she will ever surpass this performance. Marty was written for a bright and alluring girl of around 13, who, in her own words, has "an old soul". She is more than a match for the drifting pianist, Will, whose girlfriend is rated "seven and a half", in a revelatory scene where three nearly grown up highschool buddies give girls they know points for looks, personality, and other qualities. Matt Dillon shows himself to have some range as Mira Sorvino's husband, carrying on an affair with his highschool sweetheart, played shamelessly by Lauren Holly. Uma Thurman has a small but pivotal role as the sister of a local tavernmaster, but I've never seen her as particularly captivating, so all the fuss is lost on me. What rings truest in this film is that the small town folks portrayed are real, dealing with life as it comes, and they grab at your sensibilities, carrying a poignant message, full of the grit that comes from their authenticity.
Rating:
Summary: Don't let the title fool you into thinking it's mindless
Review: I saw the beginning of this movie on cable and then got HOOKED and had to finish watching the entire movie even though I had two young, restless children in the house. The story is about Timothy Hutton returning home for a reunion but the movie shows little of the reunion event. The story is based around the lives of the characters' everyday lives. The casting is terrific--the acting is superb--especially Natalie Portman. The screenplay is fantastic--the dialogue is witty, natural, realistic and interesting. No cliches in the dialogues. This is a movie I could watch repeatedly and still find it amusing because the screenplay is so good.
Rating:
Summary: all you need to know to get this movie
Review: Ween AND Morphine are on the soundtrack. Enough said.
Rating: 
Summary: Twenty-Something Fun, Guy Style
Review: This is one of the most fun and interesting films I've seen in recent years. Fun, yet not without its serious side. The cast is great, with Timothy Hutton, Matt Dillon, Lauren Holly, Annabeth Gish, and Uma Thurman portraying classic characters in their late twenties. Natalie Portman nearly steals the show as a precotious 13-year-old, who sets her heart on Timothy Hutton. We all know people (friends) like these characters. They ring true to our life experience. I think all guys struggle with the issues these guys are struggling with. (Maybe its true for women and the female characters as well?) Do you look back to your past with longing for what could have been, or forge ahead into the future with whatever it brings?
Do you cling to the wild and independent spirit of your youth, or settle down into "commited" and maturing relationships? Throw in a bar fight, some car crashes (all excused as raging male hormones), and you have a mix that could result in disaster (movie-wise), but director Ted Demme keeps it all together, and with just the right level of finese, comes up with a film that works, and works well!
Rating:
Summary: Sweet Caroline
Review: I just saw this movie and it was so great I laughed so hard and really thought that this could be what will happen when me and my friends come back for our high school reunions. The story is that this guy comes back from the big city to his hometown and finds out that he is the only person who has left the town to pursue a career. I thought that the idea behind "Beautiful" was the fact that on the inside we are all beautiful no matter how horendous we look on the outside. I still cannot get over when the guys meet Uma Thurman's charactor in the bar and they tell her that Noah Emmerich's charactor can play the piano so he goes over there and begins playing the song Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond and everyone in the bar sings along. I would recommend this to people ages 15 and over because there is some sexual dialouge and images of nudity. Also just so you all know the charactor that Natalie Portman portrayed was so much like a normal teenager in every way. I hope that this review has helped you in making a decision in this motion picture.
Rating:
Summary: Hidden gem of a movie with a great soundtrack!
Review: This movie (set in Upstate NY) is the story of a bunch of friends gathering for their high school reunion, but so much more too...old boyfriends and girlfriends, new loves, fun scenes, flirtations, etc. One of my all time favorites, must have been a sleeper in the theatre but one I recommend to everyone I know. I originally watched it because it had Matt Dillon in it (one of his better roles) but keep coming back because of the storyline and the soundtrack. Everyone I have ever told about this movie has liked it. The music in it is great - a lot of the movie revolves around the music and very much helps to tell the story. If you are out of high school to any age adult, you should see this movie. It definitely has something for everyone it it!
Rating:
Summary: Love it in every way
Review: I love this movie in oh so many ways, most of which are much too subtle for me to express in my current state. But I just had to respond, at least, to all these reviews saying this takes place in the Midwest or Minnesota. Where are you getting this from? Willie leaves the Port Authority Bus Terminal in NYC - telling his boss his bus trip is 5 or 6 hours. And in the bar, Paul talks about the guys in the bar who go to The Cape for 2 weeks out of every summer. Sorry folks - this takes place somewhere in Central Mass. In fact, I think I actually read that somewhere anyway. A great film - great acting - I disagree with all the criticisms - but I won't go into them all now.
Rating:
Summary: Natalie Portman's coming out party!
Review: I remember renting this movie a few years ago just basically because there wasn't anything else that looked to interesting and for some reason this just kind of jumped out of me. I'm glad it did because this is one of my favorite movies of all-time. The writing is very clever, very natural sounding and the acting is great to serviceable. Timothy Hutton does a great job as the lead character who's returned home for a reunion, but also seeking an answer as to what the next step in his life should be. But, without question, Natalie Portman put Hollywood on notice in this moive that she was going to be a huge star. There aren't many young ladies who could've stolen a scene or two much less a whole movie of this caliber. She takes what could've very easily been a throw away part without a lot of substance and turns it into something that makes you realize you're seeing a truly special actress. The scenes with Hutton and her are adorable, real, and heartbreaking all at the same time. Their conversation about Winnie the Pooh while she ice skates is some of the best writing in the film. Definitely check this movie out if you're a Natalie Portman fan, a Timothy Hutton fan, or if you just want to see a small movie that places an importance on dialogue and character development over massive explosions.
Rating: 
Summary: Well-Made if Fairly By-The-Numbers Characters and Story
Review: "Beautiful Girls" is one of those movies whose characters and stories are so familiar--just walk into any smoky bar on a Friday night and look around--that it makes you wonder why it even had to be made, well-made as it is. In a kind of Bizarro World "St. Elmo's Fire" (read: blue collar), we nonetheless have yet another group of young, white 20-somethings struggling through . . . well, they're not really struggling so much as just refusing to grow up, meaning that their problems are more issues of identical character flaws than anything else, and if you don't relate to or care about the characters--which I too frequently did not--the story falls flat. (Their bodies matured a lot faster than the rest of them--and isn't that always the predictable central conflict in these stories?) So, you'll see the standard male types--the ex-jock womanizer (Matt Dillon), the well-read sensitive guy (Timothy Hutton)--so sensitive as to be in love with a 13-year-old (a delightful Natalie Portman) whose maturity ironically is well beyond those of the adults--the cement-headed goof (Michael Rappaport), the dutiful husband, the oafish but wizened bartender, etc. The women fare slightly better, as the blonde bombshell (Uma Thurman) actually has a brain and heart, even if the cute doormat (Mina Sorvino--think Betty from "Archie") and husky hairdresser (Rosie O'Donnell--think Alice from "The Brady Bunch") could be plopped into a dozen other projects without adjustment. There are lots of things to like about this movie--the sincere, often quietly effective performances, the earthy soundtrack, the civilized grittiness of the town, Ted Demme's hands-off direction--but how many times does the same story need to be told, with many of the same cliches (There's even a fight in the alley behind the bar!)? In addition, having grown up in a blue-collar town, some details are off in the way Hollywood prefers them--yes, blue-collar folk drink but these people are raging alcholics, working class people typically have jobs, which they work very hard at, and where are all the racist and sexist jokes and hazing, even if Minnesota as depicted in the film seems completely devoid of minorities? Watch it, I guess, if your life turned out like this--or threatens to.
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