AllMovie

Many better musicals have been created from no better material than The Girl Next Door, a so-so offering that simply lacks any kind of spark. Part of the problem lies with leading lady June Haver, a performer who can sing and dance passably but who simply doesn't light up the screen the way that a musical actress should. Watching Haver perform a nothing number like "Nowhere Guy," one keeps wishing that Betty Grable or Debbie Reynolds would come out and show her how it should be done. To be fair, though, Haver is working with a substandard score and script; even Dan Dailey, who has much more in terms of personality, has to struggle to make something out of his role in Girl. As a matter of fact, the only one who really comes off well is Cara Williams, whose sharp-tongued friend gets all the best lines. There's a very eye-catching animated sequence, and the ultra-1950s production design is eye catching, but for the most part Girl is a pretty ho-hum affair.