The Wedding Bet

Just saw the premier screening and laughed through the entire movie. The cast has delivered an understated/over the top performance, and the writing & directing delivers the one of those ultimate male fantasy/nightmare stories around the backdrop of a tender love story. This film moves along at a frantic pace and is loaded with the kind of humor and action that every red-blooded American male will enjoy. It is a film you can take good humored, liberated date to. And my guess is that "The Groomsmen" will be required viewing in every frat house.

While traveling to be the groomsmen in the wedding of their friend Scott (Michael Trucco), the wolf Dewey (Alex Nesic) proposes two bets to his monogamist friend Jay (Christopher Wiehl): if he had sex along the weekend he would give his valuable convertible car to Jay; and if Jay did not score any woman in the same period, he would date Jay's sister. They arrive in a huge property with their loser friend Phil (Duane Martin), and the trio is introduced to the bridesmaids. When Jay meets the fiancée Reese (Lisa Brenner), he realizes that she is his former sweetheart and passion. Along the weekend, the bets and the love of Jay for Reese gets the guests into very complicated situations.

"The Groomsmen" is a hilarious and gross comedy, in the same level of the "American Pie" franchise blended with romantic comedy. The politically incorrect jokes are mostly about sex and of low level, but I laughed a lot. Jennifer Gareis is extremely sexy and her scene having sex with her French teacher recalled a particular scene of "Clerks". The misguidance of Jay about her fetish in the bathtub scene is one of the most hilarious I have recently seen. This film offered exactly what I expected and I really liked. I have not recognized Charisma Carpenter in the beginning of the movie. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Do Que Os Homens Gostam" ("What Men Like")

The lame romantic comedy "What Boys Like" is like a warmed-over helping of "American Pie." In the film, three numbskull buddies indulge in boring sexual hijacks at their friend's wedding. The tale is narrated by Dewey, the typical frat boy misogamist who regales us with his oh-so-clever "Rules of Man," the purpose of which is to instruct the male of the species on the fine art of nailing as many babes as possible without getting hooked in the process. Dewey makes a bet with his friend, Jay - who, for some strange reason, seems obsessed with having long term relationships - that the latter will not be able to score a one night stand during the weekend, while Jay makes a counter bet that Dewey will not be able to forego sex for the same 48-hour period. However, things get really complicated when it turns out that Jay is actually in love with the bride-to-be, his old high school sweetheart whom he's never entirely gotten over.

Needless to say, the script employs a series of predictable plot complications, misunderstandings and sexual perversity's to generate its humor - which would be fine if any of it were clever or funny. As Dewey, Alex Nesis provides a certain manic energy that almost makes the concept work. Nevertheless, even he emerges as a pale imitation of the wonderful Stifler from the "American Pie" films. And this leads us to the basic question as to why one would order this low-cal substitute when the real thing is so much tastier.

Here's an interesting side item about the film: since the film's release on 2/27/2004, "What Boys Like" has amassed a whopping $955 in B.O. revenues, which, at an average ticket price of $6, means that the film was seen by roughly 160 people across the United States and Canada during its limited theatrical release. After one factors out relatives and friends of those involved in the production, who does that leave?

When I sat down to watch this, I expected to see a very average romantic comedy. I was pleasantly surprised; this is one of the funniest teen comedies, and they came up with the great idea to combine crude humor with romantic comedy. I found it to be incredibly entertaining. The plot is very good, something any teenage guy can get into. The romantic parts aren't sappy or melodramatic in any way. They didn't seem out of place, either. The humor is very well-placed and mostly very funny. The characters, though half of them are stereotypes, are reasonably believable, and their actions are mostly in character. The actors do pretty good, considering most of them are unknowns. I liked how they managed to mix the crude comedy with the romantic comedy. It didn't seem forced or misplaced, in any way. Most fans of movies like American Pie or Road Trip will enjoy this; however, fans of movies like Pretty Woman can probably also enjoy this movie, as it's a good mix of the two styles of movies. I'd recommend this to pretty much anyone who enjoyed one or more of the aforementioned films. It's worth watching. 8/10

With nothing to do this boring Friday, "The Groomsmen" were up on the television and I gave it a chance. I thought at first by reading the plot that it would be just another teen movie, like American Pie et cetera, but actually it was a little bit original at some points. It mixed up well between being a regular romantic comedy, with some more teen gent laughing. There's not much to demand from a piece like this, but this sure gives a surprise with the skill of those unknown actors and with the stunning laughs time from time. Just another Hollywood movie, but still it's better than the average romantic teen comedy. I'll give it a 6 out of 10, and I won't really recommend it unless you're bored and have nothing to do.