The Definitive Guide to Living in the Capital , Cairo , Egypt

It’s the year 1987 and Danielle (Temple), who has never known her
father, is in a predicament. Her mother, Sue-Ann (Jovovich), has met a Mormon man that she’s dying to marry. He has two kids and seems to believe that
marrying her mum makes him Danielle’s father with all the authority that it entails.
Known at school for her promiscuous ways, she’s sent to special ed class, where she’s
forced to team up with Clarke (Dozier), a closeted gay guy, for a flour babies
project. Left alone for the weekend, the two find themselves on a road trip
from Oklahoma to California, to find Danielle’s birth father and to escape from
Clarke’s homophobic, abusive dad.

The two main characters are clichés and despite the excellent acting and directing, they’re never really
able to transcend that. Danielle is the ‘class whore’ due to her daddy issues
and Clarke is stereotypically gay i.e. into hair, musical divas and
generally acting as stereotypically feminine as possible. That being said,
Temple in particular is absolutely fabulous. She’s edgy, passionate and
desperate; always right on the verge of completely losing her cool. Temple also
brings innocence to her role that makes her highly predictable breakdown even
more heartbreaking. Her character creeps up on you so much so that by the end,
you empathize thoroughly with her and feel utterly wretched about her
situation.

Dozier isn’t as charismatic as Temple but he holds his own against her nonetheless.
His Clarke is hampered by the stereotypes a bit more than Temple’s character;
yet his struggle with coming to terms with his orientation in an environment
that believes homosexuality is a mental problem gives his character an extra
dimension and packs an emotional wallop almost as big as Danielle’s.

Jovovich’s lost-and-helpless-mother act is hugely funny and this role’s
a nice reminder that she is actually capable of making films that aren’t action
blockbusters. Her Sue-Ann is trying to transition from the single mother of a
volatile teenager to a Stepford wife in an attempt to please her beau and turn
the mother-daughter duo into a fully fledged family.

While we’re told right at the beginning that the film’s set in 1987, the
visuals and music tell a rather different story. Sue-Ann looks like a 50s
housewife and Danielle’s hair is thoroughly modern while her clothes look
vaguely 70s. On the other hand, Clarke looks straight out of the 90s and
consequently the most believable of the three. On the bright side, the film’s
bubblegum colours do situate it ambiguously in the 80s.

Dirty Girl is
fun; there’s no doubt about that. One of the film’s highlights is a sing-along between
Clarke and Danielle in the car, complete with synchronised dance moves. It’s
simultaneously charming, goofy and wickedly fun, kind of like the film as a
whole. The superior acting and pacing make the highly conventional story and
characters shiny and new again.