Movie Review

Holly (2007)

Reviewed by Owen Gleiberman | Nov 07, 2007

Owen Gleiberman

Owen Gleiberman is a film critic for EW

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EW's GRADE

C-

Details Limited Release: Nov 09, 2007; Rated: R; Length: 113 Minutes; Genre: Drama; With: Ron Livingston and Thuy Nguyen

Image credit: Elkana Jacobson

RON LIVINGSTON AND CHRIS PENN

There has been one great humanist drama about the evils of sex trafficking — Lukas Moodysson's Lilya 4-Ever — but audiences steered clear of it, so why would they now show up for Holly, a dawdling, myopic drama about an American drifter (Ron Livingston) in Cambodia who tries to save a 12-year-old virgin (Thuy Nguyen) sold into prostitution by her family? The film sees the naïvetéof its hero's quest, but not its creepy narcissism: His fixation on singling out one pretty girl to rescue is so arbitrary, it becomes the ''saintly'' offshoot of Western entitlement. C–

Originally posted Nov 07, 2007 Published in issue #964 Nov 16, 2007 Order article reprints

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