Girls Town

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1:41

Girls Town

R

Released Jan 20, 1996

1h 28m

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

81%

Tomatometer

42 Reviews

80%

Popcornmeter

500+ Ratings

Mid-1990s, New York City. Patti, Angela, Emma and Nikki are high school seniors and best friends preparing for life beyond graduation. Their dreams for the future differ greatly -- Angela wants to become a poet, Emma and Nikki have are heading for college, and Patti is a young mother looking for stability in her kid's life -- but the four bright, young women are steadfastly loyal to each other in a way only teenagers know how to be. Their lives are then completely upended when, after being sexually assaulted, Nikki unexpectedly commits suicide. Grieving, angry, and forced to return to daily life without satisfying recourse for their feelings, the girls must come of age with a newfound understanding about the patriarchal world in which they live.

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Critics Consensus

Lili Taylor is terrific in Girls Town, a freewheeling and shaggy portrait of female rage.

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Michael Wilmington

Chicago Tribune

At its best, Girls Town has a scalding vigor and spontaneity, a real sense of the streets. At its worst -- which is far too often -- it's just as shallow, violent and cliché-ridden as the big-budget movies whose excesses its makers want to correct.

Rated: 1.5/4

Nov 14, 2024

Full Review

Jay Carr

Boston Globe

Girls Town walks the walk, talks to the talk -- and fights the good fight.

Nov 14, 2024

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Steven Rea

Philadelphia Inquirer

Although Girls Town has moments that border on the moral didacticism of an afterschool special, these too are leavened by the actresses' honest, hard-hitting portrayals.

Rated: 3/4

Nov 14, 2024

Full Review

Philip Bagnall

Loud and Clear Reviews

Girls Town is more timeless than timely. It’s dressed in painfully ‘90s garb, but the themes it explores and the language it speaks resonate louder now than they did on its original release in 1996.

Rated: 3.5/5

Jan 14, 2025

Full Review

Peter Keough

Boston Phoenix

McKay's film does more than just sensationalize this subject -- it explores it with intensity, authenticity, and intelligence, leaving the questions it probes and raised unresolved and challenging.

Nov 14, 2024

Full Review

Russell Mulvey

Vue Weekly (Edmonton, Alberta)

[Girls Town] resorts to clichés but makes the clichés workable and believable. Taylor, in particular, is magnificent.

Nov 14, 2024

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Jose D

This movie is a beautiful slice of REAL life, and it's really inspiring

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

01/15/24

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Steve D

I like the story but the directing and script were not as good as other elements.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/15/23

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Audience Member

Loved this movie more each time I saw it. Wish it were available on netflix or something like that.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/04/23

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Audience Member

Haven't seen in a long time!

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/30/23

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Audience Member

I'm really glad I managed to watch this on the last day before it was removed from Netflix streaming. This movie feel so real, even though it's dated. It's equally painful and exhilarating to watch the girls deal with things, sometimes in ways that are unhealthy but they work with what's available to them. Lili Taylor is pretty cool.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/06/23

Full Review

Audience Member

A classic of early American indie realism films. Took forever to be easily available again but it's on Netflix streaming now. The slang and clothing clearly dates but the issues are fairly consistent today and the performances are spot on. (A film about a group of girls in a working class community. Like Foxfire but hewing way closer to home without the gang formation aspect that occasionally came across as vengeful wish-fulfillment.)

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/27/23

Full Review

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Jim McKay

Director

Lili Taylor

Patti Lucci

Anna Grace

Emma

Bruklin Harris

Angela

Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor

Nikki

Ramya Pratt

Tomy

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Girls Town: Trailer 1

1:41

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Synopsis

Mid-1990s, New York City. Patti, Angela, Emma and Nikki are high school seniors and best friends preparing for life beyond graduation. Their dreams for the future differ greatly -- Angela wants to become a poet, Emma and Nikki have are heading for college, and Patti is a young mother looking for stability in her kid's life -- but the four bright, young women are steadfastly loyal to each other in a way only teenagers know how to be. Their lives are then completely upended when, after being sexually assaulted, Nikki unexpectedly commits suicide. Grieving, angry, and forced to return to daily life without satisfying recourse for their feelings, the girls must come of age with a newfound understanding about the patriarchal world in which they live.

Director: Jim McKay
Producer: Lauren Zalaznick
Screenwriter: Denise Casano, Anna Grace, Jim McKay, Lili Taylor, Bruklin Harris
Distributor: October Films
Production Co: C-Hundred Film Corp.
Rating: R
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jan 20, 1996, Original
Rerelease Date (Theaters): Jan 17, 2025
Release Date (Streaming): Sep 26, 2025
Box Office (Gross USA): $508.7K
Runtime: 1h 28m
Sound Mix: Stereo

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