A timid, big-city girl falls in love with a big-time book editor that’s way too old for her. Through a series of tragedies and life realizations, she discovers herself and decides she can make it on her own.

Through the course of Sarah Michelle Gellar’s career, I’ve always been critical of her because I really don’t like her as any character not named “Buffy”. It’s not that I have her typecast in my head, it’s just that I don’t think her acting range extends beyond that character. I had no hopes for SUBURBAN GIRL and therefore, I wasn’t disappointed.

I think this was supposed to be a romantic comedy, but they left out the comedy and the romance. Instead it felt a little awkward and creepy because Gellar and Baldwin are perhaps the worst screen couple I’ve ever seen in a romantic comedy. They have zero chemistry and neither of them looks like they want to be there. That’s a huge problem for a movie that’s based off their relationship.

Both actors appear to be uncomfortable with their characters. Too much pressure is put on Gellar to be funny and since she’s not a funny person, she looks out of place. Baldwin completely phones this one in and doesn’t have a chance to do anything he does best. I think this is a true sign of a first time director because he really didn’t know how to get the best from his actors. The audience is also asked to make a jump with Gellar’s character arc because we don’t really have any reason to accept her growth at the end of the film. She goes from timid to strong in a short amount of time and her actions didn’t really support the transition.

It’s clear why this went straight to DVD. The film quality is poor and it’s clear the budget was extremely limited. For those of you that continually hate on Gellar, you’ll be happy to add this movie to your arsenal. It’s a bad film and her very weak performance doesn’t give much hope for future success.

Video: Widescreen (1.85:1): Like I said, this is obviously a B-movie. Colors look off and film quality is very poor.

Audio: English 5.1 with French and Spanish subtitles: The audio did its job.

Commentary with Marc Klein: I find that first time directors usually do great commentaries. I think they’re filled with excitement about their film and they just have to talk about it. It’s nice, even if their film was bad. Marc gives a great commentary, but I do think he thinks too highly of his film. I also don’t think he achieved a lot of what he was trying to do.

There are also some Previews

I’m sure Gellar fans will flock to see this one, but I can’t imagine anyone not being disappointed with her performance and the film. I say leave this one alone.