The Girl Next Door (2004)

Two movies are fighting over The Girl Next Door, and neither one wins. The first is a sweet senior-year story, and it’s genuinely charming. Emile Hirsch’s Matthew is the kid who plans everything, from his college speech to a fundraiser for a Cambodian exchange student, and Elisha Cuthbert’s Danielle is the new neighbor who thinks his tidy life could use a little chaos. Their early scenes have real spark. Then Timothy Olyphant shows up as Kelly, a grinning, smooth-talking troublemaker, and the second movie, a frantic caper, grabs the wheel. Olyphant is easily the best thing in it, friendly one second and menacing the next, but the plot turns into a pileup of schemes and missing money borrowed from a different film. Paul Dano and Chris Marquette steal a few laughs as the panicky best friends. It made $30.4 million worldwide on a reported $20 to $25 million. A 4.4 because the romance has a heartbeat and the caper smothers it. $9,376 says you lie awake tonight rewriting a college essay you turned in years ago.

What works: Emile Hirsch is a likable bundle of nerves, and Timothy Olyphant makes every scene he’s in funnier and more dangerous.

What doesn’t: The sweet coming-of-age story gets buried under a messy caper plot that runs on coincidence and scheming.

Who it’s for: Grown-up fans of 2000s teen movies who want one more story about an overachiever learning to loosen up.