Smooth Talk

A curious hybrid of a movie, whose parts are greater than the whole. The first half is a vivid portrait of one teenage girl's burgeoning sexuality and alienation from her family. Joyce Carol Oates' open-ended short story has been fleshed out with a remarkably fresh performance by Laura Dern as the small-town tease with "trashy daydreams" who frequents the local mall with her girlfriends. But the film becomes a psychological horror show when her shameless flirting attracts the attention of an older man who visits her one summer afternoon while her family is away. Treat Williams as Arnold Friend ("That's my name and that's what I want to be to you") is riveting, an adolescent girl's fantasy turned nightmare. Both performances are haunting in their ring of truth. The enigmatic ending will certainly spark discussion. This small, independent film has an emotional honesty lacking in mainstream Hollywood films about adolescents. For that, and for the short story tie-in, Smooth Talk is a natural for public library collections. Recommended. (Donald Liebenson)