IT'S THE kind of thing that every teenage boy dreams of: a beautiful woman moves in next door and she likes you - and what's more, she's a porn star!

With a premise like this, it goes without saying that The Girl Next Door isn't a life-changing, award-winning sort of movie.

This is cinematic bubble-gum which some viewers will enjoy while others will hate with a passion, depending on how seriously they want to take it.

On the surface this is a bubbly wish-fulfilment romance. Very silly, but harmless enough.

But if you look a bit deeper it's guilty of trotting out a pretty reactionary idea that women working in sex-related professions need rescuing.

What's more, rather than being rescued by a gallant/wealthy/powerful/charismatic man, who would seem to have some of the attributes necessary to rescue the 'fallen woman', in The Girl Next Door, a porn star is saved from her 'sordid' lifestyle by a schoolboy.

Danielle, the porn star in question, is a beautiful, confident woman, who has made the decision to leave her career as a porn star behind and start over.

She seems to have a lot going for her and it's made clear that she could have her choice of men.

But she falls for her new, innocent younger neighbour, Matthew, because she likes the way he looks at her.

It's then down to Matthew to save her from falling back into her former career, with the help of a few meaningful looks and some not-particularly-pertinent comments about just how important she is.

It's bad enough when films show a woman being taken in hand by a man but by a schoolboy really is pushing it.

Flawed and rather sexist central premise aside, this film does have its moments.

The cast do their best with the material at hand and the film features several promising actors, not least it's central pairing of Elisha Cuthbert as Danielle and Emile Hirsch as her young neighbour Matthew.

But their hands are tied by a rather tired plot about people learning and growing that we've seen a thousand times before on the big and small screen.

And strangely, despite its 15 certificate, adult themes and endless shots of scantily-clad women, this film has a strangely childish feel, rather like an episode of a children's TV series.

Too adult to be a kids film but too childish to really appeal to adults, whatever audience this film was aiming for, it's safe to say that it's missed its mark.

Rating: 4/10