Foxfire Reviews

A well-intentioned but terribly misguided adaptation of Joyce Carol Oates' blistering novel of teenage rebellion, girl-style. Life isn't the same for four high school friends after Legs Sadovsky (Angelina Jolie) blows into town. The brash, mysterious drifter shows them that being girls doesn't mean having to sit back and take it -- it mostly meaning sexual harassment that ranges from the annoying to the brutal. They form a gang they dub Foxfire, tattoo each others' breasts, beat up their lecherous biology teacher and get into some serious trouble when they clash with a gang of would-be rapists. The first mistake here was jettisoning Oates all-important working-class milieu. The second and more serious one was updating the action from the '50s to the '90s. In an age when topics like sexual molestation weren't discussed by decent people, the girls' attempts to stick up for themselves are understandable and even brave. In the tell-all '90s, they seem silly, not entirely justified and more than a little foolish: Given the lethal realities of contemporary gang violence, the Foxfire mob's shenanigans are just about worthy of the BABY-SITTERS CLUB.