SXSW Film Reviews
By Diana Welch, Fri., March 18, 2005
SOUTHERN BELLES
D: Paul S. Myers and Brennan Shroff; with Anna Faris, Laura Breckenridge, Justin Chambers, Fred Weller, Judah Friedlander
Narrative Feature Competition
The trailer in lot 314 holds more than just a couple of homophonous girls who drink margaritas in the daytime and babysit a flatulent fat kid whose mother told him his daddy's name is Jesus. It holds a lifelong friendship that is bursting at the seams, almost unable to contain the change that is imminent: Belle (Faris) just quit her job of scowling behind a jewelry counter, and Bell (Breckenridge) has finally broken up with her doo-ragged boyfriend Tracy (the hilarious Weller) in preparation for the big move 280 miles north to Atlanta. But as Belle runs around town trying to raise funds by playing bingo and competing in church karaoke, Bell's off complicating things by falling in love with a cop named Rhett Butler (Chambers). By not allowing anything to be taken seriously, even what should be painful moments of heartbreak, Southern Belles actually tells a coming-of-age story right. It's sweet and funny, and has you hoping for a happy ending, even (or especially) for those you want to hate. Paramount, 4:15pm
