Dirty Girl: actors good, story not in teen road trip movie

Dirty Girl, which arrived with some measure of indie buzz, is a pleasing trifle, nothing more.   Two teenagers, whose parents don’t get them,  run away on a transformative road trip. One is played by Juno Temple, whose smart, quirky sexiness pretty much took over this year’s Kaboom.  The overweight gay kid is played by Jeremy Dozier.  Both are good, Temple is special and Dozier might be.  I’m looking forward to seeing them in better movies.

Against type, Milla Jovovich plays a trailer trash single mom.  Dwight Yoakam plays yet another dirtbag, this one without a lot of depth.

But it’s Mary Steenburgen who really reminds us how good she is.  Steenburgen plays what is written as a fairly cardboard role – the bullied wife, the prude wearing high-necked blouses, the devoted but helpless mom.  But Steenburgen brings so much texture and intensity to the performance and creates a character that transcends the one on the page.