You know what was nice about this? It was before Indie comedies started being contrived and overly "quirky" to appeal to Oscar voters / the post-Napoleon Dynamite generation.

Natasha Lyonne is fantastic in this. What the hell happened to her?

Anyways, I liked this quite a bit. Tamara Jenkins would make a good case for herself as a female auteur if she were a bit more prolific. The film is funny but natural for the most part, and is a pretty great directorial debut. Some of the characters slightly border caricature, but the overall mood and sentiments Jenkins intended are very much alive, and the film showcases an interesting crossroad between its 70's setting and 90's production, you definitely feel both decades ingrained in there. Tomei and Arkin give great supporting performances as well.

Oh...and it's available for free (legally) on hulu.com
http://www.hulu.com/watch/12333/the-slu ... erly-hills

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This was a great movie. I remember seeing it in theaters back in the day.

This movie is sad if only because it shows Natasha Lyonne, who easily captured the camera's attention in a wonderful performance in this film, never lived up to her early promise at all (the reported drug use and threats to sexually molest her neighbor's dog didn't help either).

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