Oh, to a neighbor like Elisha Cuthbert. Not that my neighbors are bad. Want a cup of sugar? Just knock. Want help will the ball cock in your toilet? Ring next door. All of this is incredibly beneficial, but oh, to have a neighbor like Elisha Cuthbert!

Elisha plays the 'girl' in the new teen film The Girl Next Door directed by Luke Greenfield (The Animal). Her name is Danielle and she arrives just when neighbor Mathew Kidman (Emile Hirsch) is writing a speech in hopes of getting a scholarship for his portrayal of moral fiber. But one look at the stripping Danielle from his bedroom window to hers leaves every fiber pointing in a different direction.

This small act of voyeurism leads to all sorts of trouble as Danielle notices her admirers' gazing and immediately heads next door to confront young Matthew. The result of their new courtship would lead to public nudity, breaking and entering, skipping school, taking drugs and everything else that we used to brag about without merit in High School.

And just as everything seems to be going extremely well for the young Matthew, one of his geek buddies reveals her true identity, that of an up-and-coming porn star. This revelation comes shortly before the arrival of her pimp film producer Kelly (Deadwood's Timothy Olyphant) who throws a wrench into the infatuational plans of the two neighbors and leads Matthew down a path that jeopardizes his endeavor to win the scholarship. Soon, Kelly and Matthew are attending strip clubs, meeting in Vegas and eventually, the two are involved in a robbery where Matt tries to win the freedom of the young Danielle.

Much has been made of The Girl Next Door's resemblance to the 1983 Tom Cruise film Risky Business. Truly, the comparisons cannot be more obvious. Instead of hookers, we have porn stars. Instead of a house party, we have a prom, and where there is a family heirloom in play with Cruise's film, Hirsch must pull out all the stops in order to obtain a $25,000 bank account that was amassed to bring a Cambodian teenager to America.

But with all these comparisons evident, I enjoyed The Girl Next Door more. The High School situations have been updated, and I believed in how Matthew could be easily drawn into his world of love and admiration, something I didn't feel with Cruise and DeMornay.

Don't get me wrong, The Girl Next Door will not have the impact of Risky Business nor will it be the catapult for either Hirsch or Cuthbert that Business was for Cruise. But it still was a rather enjoyable film. Not filled with situations bordering on the asinine (see American Pie's 2 through 3),The Girl Next Door was a smart film that resembled a John Hughes film of the early 1980's. I enjoyed all the characters from the geeks who are trying to find their sexual niche to the awkwardness and mature awakening of Matthew through the ordeal of following his dreams. Whereas adolescent films recently have skewed into gross out comedy in such entries as The New Guy, American Pie and Van Wilder, The Girl Next Door gives us something fresh, a progressive out of character plot backed by the love of a beautiful woman.

All these funny and interesting struggles lead to the senior prom where the result might seem far fetched, but at least it seems as if the director meant it not to be taken with any notion of seriousness. We understand the good guys from the bad guys and the movie makes no attempts to throw a surprise or two our way. Maybe in its simplicity, it has found the answer to rejuvenating the youthful film movement.

So, back to my original blabbering. Oh, to have a neighbor like Elisha Cuthbert! First noticed wearing pink panties in the 2003 popular film Old School, she is something to behold. But can she fix a ball cock? Don't answer that!

Matthew Kidman (Emile Hirsch) is a straight A student council president who looks back at his high school life without really living to the fullest. He gets into Georgetown and is trying to get a scholarship. He and his friends Eli (Chris Marquette) and Klitz (Paul Dano) are outsiders. Then Danielle (Elisha Cuthbert) moves in next door and Matthew falls for her hard. Porn obsessed Eli recognizes Danielle from a video. They break up and then he finds her with her old boyfriend porn producer Kelly (Timothy Olyphant).

It has some funny moments mostly from Chris Marquette. It's a sharp take on the teen sex romp. Emile Hirsch is way too whiny. It has a bit of Risky Business but it's also uncomfortable adult. It takes a wrong turn going to the porn convention. It overloads on the adult entertainment side and stops being a fun teen sex romp. It would be helpful to develop the other high school characters and less with the adult entertainers.

Matthew Kidman (Emile Hirsch) is a non-popular nerd in his high-school, having just two friends, Eli (Chris Marquette) and Klitz (Paul Dano),and concerned with the situation of a Cambojean student and in getting a scholarship to Georgetown. When the sexy Danielle (Elisha Cuthbert) comes to live in the next door, they date and fall in love for each other. Later, Matthew finds that Danielle was a porn star, but when her former boyfriend and producer Kelly (Timothy Olyphant) visits her and invites her to return to the porn industry, the situation gets out of hand of Matthews and he gets into serious trouble.

"The Girl Next Door" is a very sexy and funny comedy, and the confusions that Matthew gets into are hilarious. There are many elements of "Risky Business" in this movie, and the greatest modification is that Danielle is not a prostitute like Lana (Rebecca de Mornay),and I believe the writer got inspiration in that 1983 comedy to write this story. Elisha Cuthbert is extremely sexy and perfect for the role of Danielle, and Emile Hirsch fits very well for his character. However, Timothy Olyphant "steals all the scenes" as Kelly. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Show de Vizinha" ("Show of Neighbor")