David Boreanaz

We went to the Sunday showing of These Girls, a dark, comedic twist on the old "coming of age in a small town" story. The movie was written and directed by John Hazlett, adapted from a play by Vivienne Laxdal (the movie version was described by Mr. Hazlett as a "radical revision"). We want to note straight out of the box that we loved — LOVED — the soundtrack.

But there’s a lot to like about "These Girls," in addition to the music. For one, we’re unabashed fans of David Boreanaz, who plays Keith, a sort of "bad boy" that’s kind of grown up—or at least is married and has a baby daughter. For Boreanaz, this was a good test of his range; he’s slightly pathetic, sneaky, not very smart, and not so responsible—not at all "Angel"-like. Caroline Dhavernas, recently of the late television series "Wonderfalls" (which we also liked quite a bit), is great in the lead role of Keira, a small-town girl that’s tired of playing it safe. She’s wrestling with whether she should go off to "University" (this is Canada, btw) —something her father wants her to do, which is the primary reason she’s resisting it. She wants to take chances and experience new things, but of her own design, rather than those of her overbearing father. Dhavernas plays the character with the sort of wryness that made her appealing on "Wonderfalls," yet the emotional arc (and subject matter) of These Girls gives her a chance to flex her acting muscles a bit more. Of note: Mr. Hazlett indicated in the Q&A session that Dhavernas is a native French speaker, and English is her second language. We’d have never known.

Another nice surprise was Amanda Walsh, who we’d never heard of before, playing the role of Glory, the girl who sort of starts the ball rolling by having sex with the Boreanaz’s Keith. Rounding out the girls, Holly Lewis plays Lisa, a baseball-obsessed 7th Day Adventist who wants some carnal knowledge before going off to boarding school. It’s an amusing role what Lewis pulls off for the most part, particularly in the scene where she’s throwing herself at Boreanaz, but feels a bit overacted at times.

The basic plot: The other two girls discover Glory’s affair with Keith, and each conspires to have a similar experience. At first, these lifelong friends fight about the situation, but eventually achieve a sort of uneasy equilibrium, where they take turns — all of which, by that point, is against Keith’s will. The girls are blackmailing him with the threats of exposing both the affair(s) and his marajuana cultivation. Of course, this equilibrium comes unhinged. Control, or the lack thereof, is a major theme throughout this movie.

What we didn’t like: Okay, so we’re not buying Boreanaz in a bandanna, sorry — either you can pull it off or you can’t. Somehow we doubt it’ll hurt Boreanaz in the long run (again, we’re big fans of his). There was one line of dialogue that also hut us the wrong way, where a more or less mentally challenged teenager quotes Sesame Street — it struck us as unimaginative and a bit gratuitous. But these are but nit-picks; we liked the film a good deal. If not for the "underage girls screwing a man twice their age" plot point, it could well have made a decent showing in U.S. theaters, we think — as it stands, according to Mr. Hazlett, it looks like you’ll be able to pick it up on DVD.