Premiere: 1.19.03 (Sundance Film Festival)
Release Date: 2.14.03 (Limited)
Director: David Gordon Green
Writer: David Gordon Green
Cast:
Paul Schneider .... Paul
Zooey Deschanel .... Noel
Patricia Clarkson .... Elvira
Benjamin Mouton .... Leland
Maurice Compte .... Bo
Danny McBride .... Bust-Ass
Shea Whigham .... Tip
Bartow Church .... Geoff

At the age of twenty-two, Paul Hall (Paul Schneider) knows nothing of the world except for life in his rural, Southern hometown. He and his friends are headed nowhere fast, spending their time drinking, causing trouble, and chasing girls. Paul’s mother would love to see her son get out of this life and move on to something better. For Paul that might mean a girl named Noel (Zooey). Just having returned after years of absence, Noel is now by far the smartest, prettiest, most real girl in town. Paul and Noel begin a romance that makes Paul feel as if he’s finally found something of worth, something to be a good person for. Paul’s slept with nearly every girl around, but with Noel he finds himself truly loving someone for the first time. One quiet weekend, Noel goes on vacation with her friends and sleeps with another man. Her relationship with Paul falls apart, and Paul is left to question whether or not he can start down the road of finding a better life without her. After a fight with his mother in which she tells him he’s got to grow up, Paul decides he has to look for that better side of life no matter what. He packs up his things, gets in his truck, and drives out of the small town he has always known as his world. Shot on location in North Carolina.

All the Real Girls was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize in the Dramatic Competition at the Sundance 2003 Film Festival. The award eventually went to American Splendor, but All the Real Girls received a special honor for Emotional Truth in Film.