Slums of Beverly Hills

source: Slums of Beverly Hills

Slums of Beverly Hills is about a teenage girl named Vivian Abromovitz(Natasha Lyonne). The Abromovitz family has this weird thing where they tend to move out every few months. Vivian can't seem to understand her family and is having a hard time growing up with her father and her two brothers. Suddenly vivian's gorgeous but crazy cousin Rita(Marisa Tomei) moves in with her. Rita's dad buys the Ambromovitz family a nice house because they are letting his daughter stay with them. Vivian finally thinks that she has found a home and that they won't be moving out into another dump hole like they did before. But due to some accidents, vivian's dream might not come true but make her realize that she doesn't need a nice place to live in order to be happy with her family. Slums of Beverly Hills was a nice little funny and original movie, besides the fact that they could have choosen someone else to play Vivian, because Natasha Lyonne looks like she's in her late twenties. I would give Slums of Beverly Hills 7.5/10

I'm surprised at this film's low rating. I remember really liking this when I saw it in the theatre back in 1998. I didn't realize until coming here to write this comment that Tamara Jenkins directed this. She directed one of my favorite films from a couple of years ago, "The Savages." No wonder I liked this one as well. "Slums of Beverly Hills" is a female coming of age story featuring an appealing Natasha Lyonne, who enjoyed a brief period of productivity in the late 90s and since has seemed to disappear from the scene. It's a quirky, very funny little film, not about any big theme but rather about a bunch of little ones. There's an especially hilarious scene featuring Lyonne, Marisa Tomei and a *. Grade: A

From the critical acclaim, I expected more from this movie and from Tamara Jenkins. The story just meandered along and didn't seem to have a point or a plot. And I find it hard to believe that a 14 year old girl (mature for her age or no) would be so blase about getting the loss of her virginity "over with." Maybe I am too young to relate (I was four years old in 1976), but I didn't have any problems connecting with the stories of Shakespeare in Love or Life is Beautiful and I wasn't alive for either of those settings. The cast is very good but unfortunately for them the script did not alow them to engage the audience. Overall, Slums had its moments but unless you are yearning to reminisce over halter tops and tube socks, I would say skip this one.

Well, I didn't have a clue what this movie was about. Someone said I would like it, so I gave it a try. The opening scene is the Natasha Lyonne character getting fitted for a bra. I thought, huh. What on earth? A whole movie about getting breasts? And in some ways, it is. But, it's so much more than that.(And for the fellas, you do get to see both Marissa Tomei and Natasha Lyonne topless.) It's a story about a family where the mother is the one who left and the kids are actually staying with the father. In the case, the father doesn't necessarily seem all that equipped to handle them. They are an adult and three kids living in one room apartments and moving overnight before they can get kicked out. But, if you stick with the story, you'll start to see that maybe he's not such an inappropriate father, as he is just a human. Marissa Tomei is fantastic as the black sheep of the family.

This is a Jewish movie with the missing mom being a really key component. In the scene with Viv looking at the remote figure of the mom with two daughters as they leave to go shopping -- even (or especially) this mom who says big breasts are out of date, and who has provided her daughter with a nose job -- there is clear yearning for and respect for a mother. And in the responsibilities Viv is given and which she takes pretty courageously i'd say, she is a little mother to her family. Cousin Rita Abramovitz, on the other hand, is a female disaster, and Marisa Tomei's performance is spot on. Again, not comic. Human feeling and weakness showing through veneer of sexual energy. Our culture provides for sex first. Sex sells. There's a temporary sense of power, but this is not what people are. And Tomei gets that across. She disentigrates into illness. Elliott the pot dealer is drawn with accuracy and tenderness, recalling people i knew back then and illuminating them for me. The scene that was key for me in this motion picture is the father at his restaurant(with hair on his head in a lovely flashback)dealing with his cook. The meat. Could move the setting from Beverly Hills to the LaBrea tarpits . . . watching living creatures thrash and sink in the black goo of materialism.

Irritating film about a teenaged girl (Natasha Lyonne) who moves to Beverly Hills with her lower-class family which includes two brothers and her wise-cracking father (Alan Arkin). The film is loosely based on a true story, but so what? It is an uneven experience that makes going to the movies a real chore at times. Marisa Tomei is best as Lyonne's cousin. Avoids mediocrity, but does little else for its cause. 2.5 out of 5 stars.

The Slums of Beverly Hills is a coming-of-age story from the perspective of a young girl. Vivian, the protagonist, is the pubescent member of a roving band of urban gypsies in 1976 Beverly Hills. The band consists solely of her divorcee father, and two brothers; one older and one younger. They don't roam far, just in the confines of the Beverly Hills school district. They are joined by a rehab-fleeing, neurotic female cousin, who becomes a guide for the young Vivian, leading her through the sexual-emotional vicissitudes of teenagerdom. Very clever, and also very heartfelt, The Slums of Beverly Hills really connected with me. I felt for the family. The acting is top flight and this makes up for some grating story lapses. When in the mood for a comedy I highly recommend this movie.

'Slums of Beverly Hills' is a disappointing film starring the overrated indie veteran Natasha Lyonne. The film has a decent premise-coming of age within a dysfunctional family. However, it takes a sharp turn about 30 minutes in, and becomes the usual, lowest common denominator garbage. This is unfortunate, because I had high hopes for this film. Alan Arkin delivers a good performance, which happens to be the only upside to this piece. Marisa Tomei, who was outstanding in 'My Cousin Vinny,' just didn't seem to be the same caliber of actress she once was. 3/10.

i'm not quite sure exactly why i like this film but as the credits rolled i was smiling nonetheless. the orange/brown/pea-soup green 70's setting of it was one of the things i found authentic and quirky about it. the whole texture of the movies seems saturated by that awful color scheme, as though the whole world is being invaded and lorded over by kitsch. another more base reason is the infinitely watchable natasha lyonne as the blossomed teenager coping with an increasingly unstable world. first her family life and now even her body seem to follow wild and unpredictable spurts. she is obviously quite attractive and i would say the best actor/actress to come out of the American pie bunch and thus not surprisingly the most overlooked. the characters all seem believable to the point that one has to understand that some biographical elements are playing heavily into the story. that said brings to mind the old adage that truth is often stranger than fiction, and in this case it also is more entertaining. 7 out of 10