Good Advice

Ever see a movie that was way better than you expected it to be? (For example, "Fools Rush In" with Matthew Perry) Good Advice is one of those movies HBO will probably show over and over, and I'll watch it every time it's on! Ma-Sheen turns in a great performance, as does Jon Lovitz, and Angie Harmon is as gorgeous as ever. A fun movie, any day of the week.

If you can get past the immorality and a little language, the movie is pretty watchable. The acting was respectable, especially liked Angie Harmon and Rosanna Arquette. Don't recall the actor's name who played Rosanna's husband, but he was quite fun to watch, as well. There may even be a few lessons to be learned, as far as honesty and integrity... lessons to be learned by the viewers, that is, as I don't believe that, even in the end, the main character really caught on to them.

We don't find very many movies on TV here in Saudi Arabia that we can last through the first ten minutes of, but we managed to stay tuned to all of this one, so I guess that says something for it :)

"Good Advice" tells of a down and out ex-stock broker (Sheen) who takes over his girl friend's advice column leading to love, success, and much fun. With a zinger every few seconds, funny characters and situations, a clever story with a feel good conclusion, "Good Advice" makes for a fresh and fun watch. In the absence of hype and considering the talent behind the film, "GA" qualifies as a "sleeper" and should be a pleasant surprise for most who manage to snag it on cable.

It takes a lot for me to enjoy a romantic comedy I usually don't. But "Good Advice" is one of the few that I would recommend. It is funny! The whole movie too. This is so well written and directed that there is not a dull moment anywhere in it. The actors are ALL perfectly cast with Charlie Sheen, Denise Richards and Barry Newman especially so. What is really good about this film is that the writers concentrated on the humorous storyline about the lovelorn column deception and not pad it out with unneeded romantic scenes between the two main characters. The film reminds me of those type of "frothy" comedies they made in the 1960's (without the heavy sexual humor that this film has of course) and because of it's unique blend of comedy, light romance and pathos the makers ended up with a witty highly entertaining movie.

I'm happy that I hadn't read the negative review on this site before I saw the DVD on the video store shelf -- otherwise, I would have passed over a good movie. I knew nothing about it before seeing it on the shelf, so perhaps my expectations were low. True, it was not Academy Award material, but it was a good romantic comedy -- cute and funny. And that was the unanimous consensus of the 2 females and 1 male who watched it together. Give it a try!