Slums of Beverly Hills

Funny, well acted comedy from a new director whose career shuld be watched

Though hypocritical in the way it sensationalizes sexuality, this serious and funny 1998 movie about a 15-year-old coming to terms with her body and her family in 1976 is, refreshingly, never coy or ironic.

A small film with plenty of incidental pleasures, writer/director Jenkins' debut feature puts a winning new spin on the adolescent comedy-drama.

There's an alchemy that can transform personal experience into a great film, but it was nowhere nearby when Tamara Jenkins wrote and directed this lacklustre first feature.

What lifts this brash comedy above the vulgar herd is Tamara Jenkins in a heartfelt feature debut as writer and director.

Tamara Jenkins' feature debut as a director and as a screenwriter [with certain autobiographical excerpts] is a dramatic comedy that is contagious to me. [Full review in Spanish]

Dark comedy about family dysfunction; sex, drugs, cursing.

...a slight movie but a brave one

Uneven but filled with flashes of painful insight into the pitfalls awaiting adolescent girls.