NEW WATERFORD GIRL

D: Allan Moyle; with Laine Balaban, Tara Spencer-Nairn, Andrew McCarthy, Cathy Moriarty.

Another retelling of the young-adult-trapped-in-a-small-town story, New Waterford Girl tries its hardest to capture the ironic claustrophobia of life among the icy shores of Nova Scotia, complete with crazy townsfolk, widespread teen angst, and dreary cinematography that paints the setting as a virtual iceberg. It’s unfortunate that such a potentially intriguing setup is blown to bits by a seriously miscast lead actress. The lead character is Moonie, a supposedly gifted 15-year-old who decides to fake a pregnancy so that her parents will send her away from Waterford and closer to her dream destination of New York City. Moonie isn’t exactly a genius, but Balaban undermines her character by overpronouncing each and every word and acting like a four-year-old. Balaban is visually intriguing, to be sure. She looks and acts like Winona Ryder, but only pulls from Ryder’s irksome little-girlish qualities. As portrayed by Balaban, Moonie is such a sad sack, that she never gives the film a chance to lift off. McCarthy and Moriarty make favorable impressions in several scenes, and when they do, the film gains a bit of momentum, but by that point all this lemon can manage to do is putter along on fumes.

This article appears in October 20 • 2000.

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