Sarah Kernochan is a well established screenwriter, she wrote Impromptu which her husband James Lapine directed, co-wrote Sommersby and 9 1/2 Weeks. The Hairy Bird is her first feature film as writer/ director. She`s gone back to her schooldays to recreate the story of Miss Godard`s Prep school and the events that rocked this bastion of progress for women in the early 1960`s.
Odie - Gaby Hoffman is the new girl, her parents got her out of Detroit fast when they found a diaphragm in her room. At first she`s reluctant to bond with her roommates, Verena - Kirsten Dunst and Tinka - Monica Keena but before too long she`s a fully fledged member of the DAR`s - Daughters of American Ravioli who meet in secret to eat out of tins. Other members include Tweety - Heather Matarazzo and Abby - Rachel Leigh Cook. They get up to some mild pranks, but the big issue of the day is whether to merge with a nearby boys school.
This is a rah-rah film for separate and exclusive education for girls and while I`m totally in accord with women being given the opportunity and encouragement to develop their skills, intellects and ambitions I felt the film had been so poorly executed and was so precious about it`s aims that it almost lost me completely. Sarah Kernochan`s screenwriting skills come into doubt and so do her skills as a director. She manages to get either very ordinary or quite appalling performances out of her young cast. Lynn Redgrave is however solid as the school`s headmistress. The Hairy Bird is occasionally amusing, but as a whole it just ultimately irritated me because of its ineptness and its smugness.
