justfriends (2/10)

by Tony Medley

There’s nothing sadder than to see a comedy that doesn’t work. You will go to lots of movies before you see a stinker like this one. Except for good performances by Chris Klein as Dusty Dinkleman and Christopher Marquette as Mike Brander, this is as bad as a movie can get. Aimed at a high school intellect, Chris Brander (Ryan Reynolds) was a fat nebbish in high school pining after his best friend, Jamie Palamino (Amy Smart), to whom he is just a friend.

Flash forward ten years and Chris is a hot stud in the record biz in L.A.. Jamie is still back in New Jersey. Chris goes back and pursues Jamie again, but he’s in competition with Dusty, as they try to out-nebbish each other to win her heart. End of plot. My only regret is that I didn’t walk out after a half hour. No, wait, my main regret is going to the screening in the first place because I had bad vibes about this. The producers had packed the audience with shills to laugh throughout, but those will be the only laughs this film will hear before it goes to video.

November 15, 2005