If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Ever gone to a non-chain coffee shop & saw some ridiculous hipster using a typewriter & wondered what he/she is working on? This is it. Terrible dialogue that a horrible hipster was patting his/herself on the back about. Danny McBride is in it, so that's cool.

If George Washington didn't cement the notion that David Gordon Green was an ambitious, careful new writer-director, his sophomore film All the Real Girls should do the honors. Here is a soft, warm, and often frighteningly realistic portrayal of a young relationship in the south, burdened by pasts no one wants to talk about and futures no one is really sure of. This is yet another film where Green magnifies tight-knit relationships in seemingly desolate communities.The film stars Paul Schneider and Zooey Deschannel (who, with short hair in later scenes, looks strikingly like actress Greta Gerwig) as Paul and Noel. Paul lives with his mother, who works as a clown at children's hospitals, and has a reputation for being a womanizer who shies away from long-term relationships. Noel is a more mature, if quirkier, young woman and the two hit it off when they first meet. Paul hangs around with a group of guys, one of whom is played by Danny McBride, and loves to have vulgar, immature dialogs. But when he hangs with Noel, he has much more intimate, mature conversations, as they see eye-to-eye on much more than they'd believe.What unfolds is a truly beautiful relationship, one where the idea of sex crosses the mind but isn't directly acted upon. This is because Paul genuinely cares about Noel's feelings, and because of this, acts in a more restrained, conservative manner. If he didn't feel so attached to her, he would've easily had sex with her a few days after knowing her and perhaps add her to the laundry list of girls he slept with in a week or so. But he becomes so close with her that it frightens him, and makes him think about how his life my change with this woman.This story wouldn't have worked half as well with lesser screen presences. Schneider and Deschannel provide leverage emotionally and narratively that wouldn't exist if the shoes of Paul and Noel were filled by performances more driven by beauty and a script more concerned with petty mawkishness. I constantly see young girls - and older ones, too - flock towards the latest film adaptations of Nicholas Sparks novels, with incredulous romances, trite instances, and utterly lame characters. The harmful effect with those films are they provide audiences, particularly females with the idea that relationships like this actually exist and picturesque beauty is a commonality in the deepest of relationships. I would recommend the same crowd All the Real Girls if I knew my recommendation wouldn't be instantly discarded when they realizes how independent, subtle, and serene the film actually is.The glue holding the film together is the score, which combines that kind of rare beauty in certain instances that would seem trivial if they weren't made noteworthy in some way. The score livens common events in the characters' lives like talking, cuddling, walking, or simple scenic shots of the south. The cinematography is done by Tim Orr, the same man who made the dreary, urban landscape of North Carolina a character in Green's George Washington. Needless to say, after providing that film with such incomparable beauty, his work here is equally impressive.All the Real Girls doesn't blind the viewer with potency in symbolism and subtlety like that film, but it makes for just as engaging of a viewing. It offers a study on a believable relationships that one is hardpressed to find in other romantic films. Just like most independent films, it isn't complete unless there are a few questionable instances, and one in particular, I can see angering viewers. It's so odd and undeveloped that it leaves a bit of a pungent aftertaste after seeing such a deep, intimate picture. But that's film.Starring: Paul Schneider, Zooey Deschanel, and Danny McBride. Directed by: David Gordon Green.

David Gordon Green's 'All the Real Girls' falls on the lines of 'Blue Valentine' and '500 Days of Summer'. The story is set in some Southern town in Appalachia and it pretty much centres around a young couple, Paul and Noel. Their relationship is complex but their feelings of affection for one another are no doubt real. The small-town setting appears to look quite authentic and it's captured well by decent cinematography.The pacing, especially in the first half, is quite slow but this also allows one to see how the relationship between Paul and Noel build up. I felt that sometimes the writers and directors were trying too hard to make the film quirkier and, as such, a few sequences look forced or seem out of place. Even the humour is sometimes forced.Zooey Deschanel steals the show as the vulnerable Noel. Many seem to comment that she can't do anything outside playing quirky. Well, this is one of her less quirky roles. One may draw parallels between Noel and Summer (Zooey's character in '500 Days of Summer') mostly because of the similar storyline even though the characters are almost completely different. Paul Schneider does a decent job. There are certain sequences where it's hard to tell whether he's being funny or was that not the intention. But he has good chemistry with Deschanel. Shea Whigham provides good support and Patricia Clarkson is outstanding.I was disappointed by the ending. I'm not saying that I wanted a happier ending but at least one where the story is heading somewhere rather than finish abruptly.

There is no doubt in my mind that this is the most realistic film ever made, by miles. Everything about it from the familiarity of the people and relationships in the town to the dialogue is simply authentic. My jaw dropped when I heard the brilliant dialogue. It never feels like the actors are reading off of a script of playing out someone else's words. Every word, every pause, every look is so brutally natural that you can't stop yourself from being completely immersed in the world that Green introduces.It is also the most heartbreaking film I've encountered. The idea of an affair is brought up in so many films, to the point where it's just become something common. Even in one of my favorite films, Closer, an affair is brought up and it just feels so meaningless. You just get a feeling of "Ouch, he's going to be mad. Alright, next scene." and it's become such a dry and typical plot device. This film completely turns this around and creates one of the most shattering scenes I've ever had to watch. You fall so in love with the characters and want so badly for their relationship to prevail, but when Noel drops this bombshell the viewer, like Paul, becomes absolutely devastated. The sex scene is the most painfully hard to watch scene I've ever come across. It subtly displays the complete degradation and travesty that their relationship has turned into and brought me to tears.There is so much depth and so many symbolisms in the film that relate to their relationships throughout the picture. A great example would be Noel's haircut as a disruption of nature just as her weekend away was the catalyst to their separation. There was also the river displayed in the end when Paul is trying to teach his dog how to swim. He points out that the river flows two ways, and I think this is a metaphor for their relationship. Both characters are moving on their own way. When they cross paths it's beautiful, but then they pass on into their own opposing journeys. Paul is transforming from a sexually promiscuous man into a deep lover who cares more about an internal relationship than a physical one, and his relationship with Noel is what helped him become this. Noel transforms from a shy, isolated virgin into a more outgoing and sexually experienced woman, and it was their relationship that propelled this change. This is easily the most authentic and devastating film I have ever seen. I was completely wrecked.