Debut film is redeemed by solid acting

Abe Sylvia’s debut feature, Dirty Girl, could have easily turned out to be one of the worst films of the year. It is cliché-ridden, both in terms of its characters and its plot, and is as thematically and stylistically haphazard as movies come.

But with Juno Temple, destined to be Hollywood’s next it-girl, and promising newcomer Jeremy Dozier breathing life into the lead characters, Sylvia’s otherwise hackneyed film becomes tolerable, even engaging. Dirty Girl stands as a testament to adept acting transcending mediocre writing and direction.

Loosey goosey · Juno Temple plays Danielle, the movie’s “dirty girl,” and gives the film the magneticism and fuel it needs to finish. Temple creates an unforgettable character viewers are sure to get a kick out of. - Photo courtesy of The Weinstein Company

Clearly, Sylvia has a strong personal connection to the material — few would dare set a movie in a place like Norman, Okla., in 1987 without having been there to experience it — but this alone does not translate into a nuanced or human-feeling premise.

During the first act of the film, before the central performances grab hold of the viewer, the script’s vast number of obtuse stereotypes is downright confounding.

Temple’s Danielle is the film’s notorious high school slut, probably because she learned the role from her mother (Milla Jovovich), who neglects her in favor of the latest boyfriend, a Mormon caricature. Dozier’s Clarke is abused by his fundamentalist father (Dwight Yoakam) because of his apparent homosexuality, while his subordinate mother (Mary Steenburgen) sits powerless.

For a good 20 minutes, it seems the movie will simply be one long barrage of cheap-shots at conservative Middle America — a tired mold long before it ever reached Hollywood.

The plot only becomes more painfully conventional once Danielle and Clarke join forces. They are paired for a school project, and days later embark on an impromptu cross-country road-trip in search of Danielle’s biological father.

What happens on the road trip is nothing short of transformational, but not in the hokey story-related way Sylvia intends. It is here the actors take the reigns from their director. Thrust into the vacuum of Clarke’s dad’s car, borrowed without asking, of course, and unshackled by the one-dimensional supporting cast, Temple and Dozier seize the opportunity to turn caricatures into real people.

Temple is downright magnetic, creating an infectious character viewers are sure to enjoy spending time with, despite Danielle’s foul-mouthed, rough-around-the-edges exterior. She barely resembles her real-life self, trading in her British accent for a Southern drawl and her frizzy mane for a straightened, bleach-blonde hairdo. But her star quality is unmistakable. By the end, the viewer is truly invested in Danielle’s pursuit of her father, a real feat for the actress given Sylvia’s anemic development.

Dozier’s future Hollywood prospects are less certain — chubby, 20-something males often end up relegated to supporting parts in Adam Sandler productions — but his work is equally praiseworthy. His role is more difficult than Temple’s, because he is essentially required to play the universal gay stereotype. But Dozier adeptly interprets Clarke’s overly flamboyant image as the character’s way of finally embracing his socially shunned identity — an ingenious approach.

Having strong lead characters, worthy of affection, does the movie wonders as a whole, too. As Danielle and Clarke’s personalities earn the audience’s affections on the road, viewers should be able to accept the seemingly out-of-place, off-the-wall style Sylvia develops as part of the fun.

Supplemented by Steve Gainer’s grainy cinematography, the aesthetic contains elements of a wide variety of exploitation genres, from queer cinema to blaxploitation (even though there are no African-American characters). The soundtrack’s endless barrage of ’80s show-stoppers, which far outdoes Napoleon Dynamite, is also rather amusing.

Needless to say, whatever heavy-handed social commentary Sylvia was trying to vocalize — about homophobia, the outsider in us all, how kids’ life trajectories often mirror those of their parents, etc. — the moral doesn’t have much of an impact because of the film’s shortcomings. But thanks to Temple and Dozier, Dirty Girl makes for an adequate diversion, not the train-wreck it had every reason to be.