A really good band called The Lemonheads opens the film Just Friends. It is without question the high point of the evening. You want to know the low point? People talking out loud during the movie. This movie seems to be the gathering point, the Mecca for morons. They flocked to this movie like idiot moths to the stupid flame.
Now, as for the movie itself, Just Friends it was far more cute than funny. I think they were going for funny but they missed by a few hundred miles. There are a few giggles, a nervous twitter or two, but no actual laugh out loud (or LOL) moments to be had. It was just a vast ocean of non funny moments and then the closing credits. Every joke has been used, every skit was painfully average. No innovation, no cutting edge comedy. They may tell you it’s a comedy, but don’t you fall for it. You’re smarter than that, I can feel it. Otherwise you wouldn’t have been able to read this much without taking a break.
Ryan Reynolds leads a low-star cast in a simpleton plot. He plays a gent named Chris who was fat in high school. This large and lovable Chris fellow was in love with his best friend played by Amy Smart. Yeah, Amy Smart, the hot chick from Road Trip is in this but doesn’t come off as hot or funny. That’s a tragedy. Anyhow, the high school romance doesn’t blossom because Chris is large (and not in charge). Cue an emotional departure from town and him getting in shape and getting a great job in Hollywood. He gets stranded in his home town ten years later and tries to capture his high school crush all over again. It’s a vapid buffet!
I will give a bit of respect to Anna Faris who plays starlet Samantha James, a gal stuck in town with Chris who feels she is competing for him. She delivers the only laughs this film has with her overall dopiness. She didn’t damage her career in the way Reynolds and Smart did, so bravo to her.
I also want to commend the film for going hard after The Notebook. They skewer what is becoming a litmus test for intelligence in our society; if you loved The Notebook I have your pacifier waiting. No hard feelings, just let the adults talk for a bit. Just Friends pokes fun at The Notebook quite a few times and in an overt manner too. I respect that and it saves this wobbly little film from F Hell.
Oh, and by the way, if you are one of those folks that liked The Notebook and talks to the screen let’s just say your officially off my Christmas card list. Too bad for you because this year is the topless edition.
