Breaking The Girls

Rivetting...
When Sara (Agnes Bruckner) meets Alex (Madeline Zima) at a bar one evening, they hit it off an end up going back to Alex's place. Alex shares horror stories about her stepmother and Sara confides that she has a school rival that is making her life miserable. Fantasizing about what life would be like without each of their respective enemies, they partake in a super hot love scene before drifting off to sleep.

When Alex brings Sara her rival's necklace as a souvenir the next day and announces that she has killed her, Sara is shocked. What Sara thought was idle talk had now slammed into reality. Alex, her part of the bargain fulfilled, now looks to Sara to fulfill her end. When Sara refuses, things get ugly. Sara, scared for her life must now choose between Alex's revenge and committing a crime herself.

Director Jamie Babbit (But I'm a Cheerleader) and screenplay writers Mark Distefano and Guinevere Turner have brought a wonderfully creepy film to the screen. Full...

the title misleads, doesn't fit well, and cast is better than convoluted script
I already knew one of the lead actresses from her role as skanky slut Lolita-type character on "Californication." She continues her typecast well here. The whole cast is great but the main drawback for me was the ridiculously convoluted script that took too many twists and turns to such a degree that it took away from the good performances by the solid cast. Too bad, really, because it's got such deliciously sexy, deviant scenes. A few moments reminded me of excellent scenes in "Diabolique" with sexual tension thick and exciting. This is good but could have been great. One thing for certain, it is NOT for children, in fact anyone under 18.

Meager Potboiler Never Capitalizes On The 'Thrill' Of Murder
Even small thrillers tend to find a measure of success if (and that's the key word) they can summon something `new' or `exciting' upon which to capitalize an otherwise thin plotline. In many respects, it's a cultural phenomenon not unlike what action films endure - when one is successful, leave it to the next aspiring screenwriter to recast that original idea in a new mold, and - voila! - you have a reasonably efficacious rip-off ... but a rip-off, nonetheless. More than any other city, Hollywood knows that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and that's probably why films like BREAKING THE GIRLS have a chance of getting made: they'll imitate what's been done before, add in a twist (say `lesbianism'), and hope for the best.

The failure to legitimately capitalize on that twist will kill you every time, and that's a lesson I hope all involved learned with this meager film that tries hard but, in the end, just doesn't quite deliver on its potential.

(NOTE:...

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