Roger Ebert's Four Star Reviews, 1967-2007

by Roger Ebert

Dawn lives in a split-level house with an older brother who is a nerd, and a younger sister who is a ballerina. Her parents claim they love all of their children equally. They are lying. Her brother, Mark (Matthew Faber), is focused on getting into a good college, and everything he does is planned to enrich his application. He starts a garage band and recruits a popular student named Steve (Eric Mabius) as his lead singer. Steve is a mature, handsome hunk, and Dawn gets weak-kneed just looking at him. He’s the kind of guy who will break a woman’s heart just for the pleasure of hearing it snap, but of course Dawn’s heart is far beneath his attention. Nor is he much interested in the band. (“That doesn’t sound much like ‘Satisfaction,’” he notes, after a clarinet passage by Mark.) Dawn is very badly informed about sex but willing to learn. She will essentially do anything for Steve, who can’t be bothered; there is a well-written scene in which she has him alone at home and plies him with junk food.