Title: Slums of Beverly Hills
Year: 1998
Director: Tamara Jenkins (The Savages)
Writer: Tamara Jenkins
Stars: Natasha Lyonne (American Pie), Alan Arkin (Little Miss Sunshine), Marisa Tomei (The Wrestler), Kevin Corrigan (Buffalo ’66)

The Story: A teenage girl in 1976 is hustled from place to place in Beverly Hills by her formerly-well-off father, who’s desperate to keep his family in upscale addresses that he can’t afford. They finally get access to money by taking in their mixed-up niece, who teaches the daughter some untraditional lessons about life and love.

Why It’s Great: It’s virtually impossible for women writer-directors to seize the bullhorn in the aggressive boys’ club that is independent filmmaking. This is partially because marketers don’t know what to do with a film unless it punches you in the gut. Smaller movies like this one too often go under the radar. This is the sort of laid-back, scruffy comedy that forces you back into an older rhythm of movie-watching. It gradually creates a believable and lovable world out of a hundred little right-on details, some that are unique to its kooky setting and some that are universal. In America, we like to pretend that the poor can get rich. That rarely works out, but everybody does have the right to pretend to be rich, provided they have a little bit of hustle, a willingness to borrow, and a whole lot of self-delusion. Entertainment doesn’t always have to sell fantasies of wish-fulfillment, it can also find comedy and drama in the wreckage that those unrealistic fantasies leaves behind.

Two more reasons over at Cockeyed Caravan.