{{Use American English|date=January 2025}} {{use mdy dates|date=October 2022}} {{Infobox film | name = The Slums of Beverly Hills | image = Slums of Beverly Hills film.jpg | caption = Theatrical release poster | director = Tamara Jenkins | producer = {{plainlist| * Michael Nozik * Stan Wlodkowski }} | writer = Tamara Jenkins | starring = {{Plainlist| * Alan Arkin * Marisa Tomei * Natasha Lyonne }} | music = Rolfe Kent | cinematography = Tom Richmond | editing = Pamela Martin | studio = South Fork Pictures | distributor = Fox Searchlight Pictures | released = {{Film date|1998|5|21|Cannes|1998|8|14|United States}} | runtime = 91 minutes | country = United States | language = English | budget = $5 million | gross = $5.5 million<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0120831/ |title=Slums of Beverly Hills (1998) |website=Box Office Mojo |access-date=January 25, 2021}}</ref> }}
'''''Slums of Beverly Hills''''' is a 1998 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Tamara Jenkins, and starring Natasha Lyonne, Alan Arkin, Marisa Tomei, David Krumholtz, Kevin Corrigan, Jessica Walter, and Carl Reiner. The story follows a teenage girl (Lyonne) struggling to grow up in 1976 in a lower-middle-class nomadic Jewish family that relocates every few months.
==Plot== In 1976, 14-year-old Vivian Abromowitz's family are penniless nomads, moving from one cheap apartment to another in Beverly Hills, so that Vivian and her two brothers can attend the city's prestigious local schools. Their father, Murray, is a divorced 65-year-old, working as an unsuccessful Oldsmobile salesman whose cars are selling poorly due in large part to the energy crisis of the time.
Vivian's wealthy uncle Mickey regularly sends the family money to help them survive. When Mickey's 29-year-old daughter Rita escapes from a rehab facility, Murray offers her shelter if Mickey will pay for a plush apartment. Vivian must babysit her adult cousin, ensuring that she attends nursing school and avoids pills and alcohol. However, Vivian has her own problems: she is curious about sex, likes a 20-something neighbor, pot dealer Eliot, has inherited her mother's ample breasts, and wants a family that does not embarrass her.
Vivian's older brother Ben aspires to a show business career. Her father appreciates the attention from his wealthy lady-friend Doris Zimmerman but resists her desire that he send his children back East to live with his ex-wife. Vivian's younger brother Rickey wishes they could live somewhere where they could have more comforts like furniture and worries about how old their father is.
Vivian and Rita are close and sometimes speak in gibberish. Vivian learns that Rita is not that serious about attending nursing school, being more interested in re-establishing contact with a man she met in rehab, and also has no idea what to do with her life. Murray attempts to cover up Rita's lack of progress at nursing school when Mickey asks for progress reports.
During a meeting between the two families, Mickey expresses frustration at having to support his brother's family, telling Murray he is "their real father" because he sends them money. Vivian snaps and stabs Mickey in the leg with a fork, and Rita admits that she is pregnant. Rita gets on a plane with her now outraged parents. Depressed and dejected, Murray once again packs the children into his car and they take off. In an attempt to cheer her father up, Vivian suggests that the family stop for a cheap steak at Sizzler for lunch—a ritual regularly suggested by their father as a means of showing affection to his children.
==Cast== <!--- Cast per tombstone opening credits and order, roles per closing credits scroll ---> * Alan Arkin as Murray Abromowitz, Vivian's father * Natasha Lyonne as Vivian Abromowitz, a 14-year-old girl * Kevin Corrigan as Eliot Arenson, Vivian's neighbor and sometime boyfriend * Jessica Walter as Doris, Murray's new love interest * Rita Moreno as Belle Abromowitz, Mickey's wife and Rita's mother * David Krumholtz as Ben Abromowitz, Vivian's 18-year-old brother * Eli Marienthal as Rickey Abromowitz, Vivian's 10-year-old brother * Carl Reiner as Mickey Abromowitz, Murray's older brother and Rita's father * Marisa Tomei as Rita Abromowitz, Vivian's paternal cousin * Mena Suvari as Rachel Hoffman * Jay Patterson as Dr. Grossman
== Production == The film is loosely based on writer-director Tamara Jenkins' experiences as a youth moving around different apartments in the Beverly Hills area with her lower-middle-class family. Jenkins wrote the script at the Sundance Filmmakers' Lab, where Sundance founder Robert Redford got ahold of her screenplay and expressed interest in producing it. Redford said he related to Jenkins' experiences of having "grown up as an 'outsider'...not at all a member of the club but a sideline observer from the wrong side of the tracks."<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Rochlin |first=Margy |date=1998-08-09 |title=FILM; Hand to Mouth, 90210: A Beverly Hills Life |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/08/09/movies/film-hand-to-mouth-90210-a-beverly-hills-life.html |access-date=2022-10-18 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Redford is credited as an executive producer on the film.<ref name=":0" />
==Reception==
=== Box office === ''Slums of Beverly Hills'' earned a total of $5,502,773 at the domestic box office. On its opening weekend, it garnered $125,561 from seven theaters in the United States.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl812680705/weekend/ |title=Slums of Beverly Hills (1998) – Domestic Weekend |website=Box Office Mojo |access-date=January 25, 2021}}</ref>
===Critical response=== {{RT prose|81|7|62|Warm, real, and hilarious.|ref=yes|access-date=June 12, 2025}} {{MC film|68|22|ref=yes|access-date=June 12, 2025}}
Reviewers have praised the 1970s production design, the humor, and the acting as "dead-on". Roger Ebert awarded the film three out of four, and said of lead actress Natasha Lyonne, "[she] has the film's most important role, and is the key to the comedy. She does a good job of looking incredulous, and there's a lot in her life to be incredulous about. She also has a nice pragmatic approach to sexuality, as in a scene where she consults a plastic surgeon about on-the-spot breast reduction." He also stated, "...basically I enjoyed ''Slums of Beverly Hills''—for the wisecracking, for the family squabbles, for the notion of squatters who stake a claim in a Beverly Hills where money, after all, is not the only currency".<ref>{{cite web |last=Ebert |first=Roger |author-link=Roger Ebert |title=''Slums of Beverly Hills'' Movie Review (1998) |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/slums-of-beverly-hills-1998 |website=RogerEbert.com |access-date=August 13, 2018}}</ref>
''San Francisco Chronicle'' reviewer Ruthe Stein stated, "While touching on serious issues such as loss, this coming-of-age story is first and foremost a comedy, and a hilarious one at that. It never strains to be funny. The humor derives from the deadpan responses of family members to circumstances beyond their control." She also wrote, "Set in the mid-'70s, ''Slums'' gets the period right, from the burnt orange shag carpet on the floor of the family's temporary digs to the dorky clothes and extreme hairstyles. Even the saleslady who sells Vivian her first bra has the overly made-up look of the time. The Abramowitzes' behavior when they go out to eat—complaining about the service and that there's too much salt in the food—may seem to border on a Jewish stereotype. But it's also dead-on."<ref>{{cite web |last=Stein |first=Ruthe |title=Down But Not Out in 'Beverly Hills' / Honest comedy never strains |url=https://www.sfgate.com/movies/article/Down-But-Not-Out-in-Beverly-Hills-Honest-2994693.php |website=SFGate |date=28 August 1998 |access-date=November 7, 2020}}</ref>
===Accolades=== {| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" ! scope="col"| Award ! scope="col"| Category ! scope="col"| Recipient(s) ! scope="col"| Result ! scope="col"| {{Ref heading}} |- ! scope="row"| ALMA Awards | Outstanding Actress in a Feature Film in a Crossover Role | Rita Moreno | {{nom}} | {{align|center|<ref>{{Cite web |last=Brajer |first=Jessica |date=2022-03-27 |title=Best Rita Moreno Movies, Ranked |url=https://movieweb.com/rita-moreno-best-movies/ |access-date=2022-10-15 |website=MovieWeb}}</ref>}} |- ! scope="row"| American Comedy Awards | Funniest Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture | Marisa Tomei | {{nom}} | {{align|center|<ref>{{Cite news |date=March 14, 1999 |title=American Comedy Awards |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/tv/1999/03/14/american-comedy-awards/59773e94-36c6-4921-bc68-0d2a367c399a/ |access-date=October 15, 2022 |newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref>}} |- ! scope="row"| Chicago Film Critics Association Awards | Most Promising Actress | Natasha Lyonne | {{nom}} | {{align|center| <ref>{{Cite web |author1=Audpop |date=June 25, 2016 |title=10 Actors Who Got Their Start in Indie Films |url=https://www.audpop.com/10-actors-who-got-their-start-in-indie-films/ |access-date=2022-10-15 |website=AudPop}}</ref>}} |- ! scope="row" rowspan="2"| Independent Spirit Awards | Best First Feature | Tamara Jenkins, Michael Nozik, Stan Wlodkowski | {{nom}} | rowspan="2"| {{align|center|<ref>{{cite news |title="Affliction" Tops Spirit Award Nominations; "Monster," "Art," and "Sex" Also Nab Numerous Nods |url=https://www.indiewire.com/1999/01/affliction-tops-spirit-award-nominations-monster-art-and-sex-also-nab-numerous-nods-82417/ |access-date=15 October 2022 |website=IndieWire |date=January 8, 1999}}</ref>}} |- | Best First Screenplay | Tamara Jenkins | {{nom}} |- ! scope="row" rowspan="2"| Teen Choice Awards | Choice Movie Breakout | Natasha Lyonne | {{nom}} | rowspan="2"| {{align|center|<ref>{{cite news |title=Funky Categories Set Teen Choice Awards Apart |url=https://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-xpm-1999-08-12-9908120634-story.html |access-date=15 October 2022 |work=Hartford Courant |date=August 12, 1999 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20221014105755/https://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-xpm-1999-08-12-9908120634-story.html |archive-date=October 14, 2022}}</ref>}} |- | Most Funniest Scene | Scene: Natasha Lyonne and Marisa Tomei dancing with a vibrator | {{nom}} |- ! scope="row"| YoungStar Awards | Best Performance by a Young Actor in a Comedy Film | Eli Marienthal | {{nom}} | {{align|center|<ref>{{Cite web |date=September 3, 1999 |title=4th Annual YoungStar Award Nominations |url=http://www.allyourtv.com/awards/awardsyoungstar4th.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090801031738/http://www.allyourtv.com/awards/awardsyoungstar4th.html |archive-date=August 1, 2009 |access-date=October 15, 2022 |website=AllYourEntertainment}}</ref>}} |}
==Soundtrack== * "Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker)" – Parliament * "I'd Love to Change the World" – Ten Years After * "Shambala" – Three Dog Night * "Up the Escalator" – Rolfe Kent * "A Fool in Love" – Ike And Tina Turner * "Papa Loves Mambo" – Perry Como * "You and Your Folks, Me and My Folks" – Funkadelic * "Measuring Up" – Rolfe Kent * "Before the Next Teardrop Falls" – Freddie Fender * "Luck Be a Lady" – David Krumholtz * "Let Your Love Flow" – The Bellamy Brothers * "Escalator" – Rolfe Kent * "Your Perverted Arms" – Rolfe Kent * "Rita" – Rolfe Kent * "We're Nomads" – Rolfe Kent
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{IMDb title}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20190408004128/https://www.allmovie.com/movie/slums-of-beverly-hills-v162515 ''Slums of Beverly Hills''] at AllMovie * {{AFI film}} * {{TCMDb title}}
{{Tamara Jenkins}}
Category:1998 films Category:1998 American films Category:1998 comedy-drama films Category:1998 directorial debut films Category:1998 English-language films Category:1998 independent films Category:1990s coming-of-age comedy-drama films Category:American coming-of-age comedy-drama films Category:American independent films Category:English-language comedy-drama films Category:English-language independent films Category:Films about cousins Category:Films about dysfunctional families Category:Films about Jews and Judaism Category:Films about juvenile sexuality Category:Films about poverty in the United States Category:Films about single parent families Category:Films directed by Tamara Jenkins Category:Films produced by Michael Nozik Category:Films scored by Rolfe Kent Category:Films set in 1976 Category:Films set in Beverly Hills, California Category:Films with screenplays by Tamara Jenkins Category:Semi-autobiographical films