DVD Review: Hilary Duff's "Greta"
Are you a Hilary Duff fan? Wonder where she's been? Evidently producing her own films. Although PG-13, According to Greta gets a little more gritty than most of Hilary's work in the past as she sheds her former squeaky-clean schoolgirl image to play a wise-cracking bad-ass teen chick ready to put some thrills in her life or....just end it. 
From Anchor Bay Entertainment
According to Greta - DVD
Greta (Hilary Duff) is a depressed trash-mouthed, 17-year-old sent by her mom to live with her grandparents Katherine (Ellen Burstyn) and Joseph (Michael Murphy), in a tiny, New Jersey ocean-side town. Seems mom is working on her new marriage and Greta is in the way. She's always been in the way.
Of course, just like Lindsay Lohan in the movie Georgia Rules, Greta hates the whole idea. She gets a job as a waitress and makes up her mind to check off her "to-do" list, then end the summer with her poetic, gnarly, gross suicide! Of course, love, in the person of very cute local guy played by Evan Ross, and some tough love from her grandparents changes her mind.
Special Features: "Greta: Behind the Scenes" is your on set and "making of" featurette and interviews with cast and crew are certainly watchable although where the heck is Hilary? Everybody, including love interest Evan Ross, talks about her; how good she is in the role, how she pauses on set to take pictures with fans (which we see) but she isn't talking here. Why?
"Deleted and Alternate Scenes" are actually quite good. There is a silent montage of Greta with her grandparents but a really good emotional scene in which she is on the phone with her mom that is well worth a watch. There are two funny scenes depicting Greta on the roof trying to get a WiFi signal and an exchange with grandma in which she has just dyed the dog violet.
The "Alternate Ending" is the same except bringing back Evan Ross's character to make Greta's future even more cheery.
Wrapping Up: Hilary is quite good in the role of a neglected and bitter teen. Dianna Ross's cute actor son Evan is very soft-spoken but is fine in his role. The great Ellen Burstyn is wonderful as always. The movie is very formula, very like a sequel or slightly different version of the film Georgia Rules but performances are quite good and, especially for Hilary fans wanting to catch up with their now more grown-up teen idol, this is worth a rental.
