I felt a sort of ghost empathy to the main characters, because they lead lives I felt I could have led. Paul and Noel fumble through conversations and dabble with simple affections like any young couple would. They pace their conversations at a normal, human pace. This is not a usual practice in movies - especially romances. Movies have made us to think we must be eloquent poets and perform over-the-top gestures to woo potential significant others. This movie proves that real life isn't like that at all. Real couples don't just spew out perfectly paced expressions of how they feel to each other all the time. They have to sit and think quietly, they say things they don't mean, and expect things left unsaid. Paul and Noel go through all of these things, all the while relenting that they cannot simply read each others' minds. If only things were so simple.
Much of the plot is lost in such ambiguity. While we understand that Paul has been sexually experienced with every girl in town besides Noel, we never really delve too deep as to why he chose to behave that way. Perhaps not even he really knows why. We also kind of get to know Paul's family, but not a whole lot of it is very well understood. We see that his mother is a widower, or perhaps a divorcé, but her character doesn't get much of chance to develop. We meet Paul's probably adopted niece Feng Shui, but like so many characters we don't really get to know her well.
Paul and Noel's chemistry goes from simple and subtle to electric in seconds. Their relationship hits notes both high and low throughout the film. It feels real. These are the kind of screen romances that I really enjoy watching, because we as an audience get to feel both the highs and lows as they really happen. And in real time. So much of their affection is felt in real time, which is rare in most movies, and yet that is how real life always plays out. It doesn't feel overly fantastic, or overly depressing. Everything that Paul and Noel go through is not beyond the reaches of any normal human, both physically and emotionally. None of us are beyond that kind of a connection. That makes everything they do, from laying in a blanket tent to kissing in a hot tub, seem completely real and beautiful.
There's also so much real, human emotion to be had apart from their relationship. Phrases like, "If anyone smiles at me ever again, I'm going to freak out." are diamonds of dialogue sprinkled throughout the film. Quips of obviously improvised dialogue also fly from start to finish. Quirky little sequences take place as well, like Paul racing a fleet of drag cars in his run-down Yugo which he calls his "truck". And Paul dancing in the bowling alley behind Noel is absolutely priceless. It's little scenes like these that give the film such a distinct humor.
The film doesn't so much end as it does part ways with the audience, leaving us to believe that these characters will continue on with their lives. What happens to them is left for the viewer to decide, mostly because none of the characters have decided where they're going yet either. This "ending" could be considered "happy", but we are almost certain that it's much more complicated than that. Isn't real life just as complicated anyways? Do we ever go through a period of our lives that seemingly "ends", or that we can say was completely "happy" or completely "sad"? Nothing is so simple as that, and All the Real Girls seems to be an exploration of that fact. While flawed, the film does what it set out to do, and with the kind of flare and humor rarely seen in modern film.
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