L'amour à la dérive

If you're a fan of Amanda Bynes you might enjoy this just because she's in it playing her usual role, but otherwise, this movie is pretty awful.

The main character Jenny is supposed to be a smart, soon-to-be pre-med student who is looking for love while working a summer job on a tropical resort. Notice I say "supposed to be" as although they talk about her being brilliant throughout the movie, she is actually made out to be quite an idiot. She is obsessed with a famous rock star and is constantly drooling over him, and seriously considers being with him in a long term relationship even though she has never met him. Sure Amanda Bynes is cute and can be funny, but she comes across as a bit pathetic in this one.

The movie is also filled with cliché characters, which makes it a bore, and it's very predictable from the moment it starts. There are no surprises here. You have the cute best friend with a crush on Jenny, the typical mean girl enemy (who happens to be everywhere she is), the rock star's stuck up agent with a British accent and weird hair, the black friend who's a player, an unsympathetic boss, the whole works.

Now other than the characters seeming more desperate than funny, there isn't anything else horribly wrong with the movie, but it definitely falls flat and isn't all that enjoyable. But there is nothing offensive about it, it is cutesy and clean, so if you're really bored and are into teen girl rom-coms or you like Bynes, it may be worth a one time watch. If you like more substance to a movie as far as plot, characters, or humor, you will probably want to skip this one.

My friend CK asked me to go along for this movie, as he's a huge Amanda Bynes fan, having followed her television series What I Like About You, and both of us agreed upon her comic potential in She's The Man, which was a pretty fun gender bender movie.

With a title like that, there's nothing too cerebral about Lovewrecked. No, it's not a doomed spoof of the Love Boat, but the teenage romance here is quite as cheesy and predictable. Bynes stars as Jenny Riley, and we're quickly introduced to her character's idol worshipping of screen pop singing sensation Jason Masters (Chris Carmack), going totally bonkers during his concert, much to the detriment of best buddy Ryan (Jonathan Bennett).

During their summer job at a Caribbean resort, she finds herself caught in a man-overboard situation with Jason, and the two of them thus began a Robinson Crusoe life - until of course Jenny discovers that they aren't really shipwrecked on some remote island at all, and keeps this as a secret from Jason. When her love rival participates in her little charade, it becomes like the reality TV series Survivor, where each have to outplay, outwit and outlast the other in order to get the affections of the lone pop star.

Directed by Randal Kleiser of Grease and The Blue Lagoon fame, this movie too had Bynes strut around mostly in bikinis, the apparel of choice for any girl working at a resort / stuck in a desert island. Bynes still haven't lost her comic timing, however here she's let down by an extremely weak story, and an even more disappointing lack of laughs from the stilted comedy. There are comedic situations which either make you laugh, or make you laugh from how bad it is. Sadly Lovewrecked had more of the latter, and for one scene, had to rely on the toilet humour favourite of the fart sequence.

As for the other characters, they're basically all one dimensional. The catty love rival, the handsome scheming nice-on-outside-unethical-on-inside pop star, the pining buddy, the mean resort manager, the horny colleague, the arrogant star assistants and minders, the list goes on. The Riley parents were such throwaway characters that you wonder if their inclusion was for the sake of extending the run time, which clocks in at a short 86 minutes.

So unless you're a true blue Bynes fan, or have that penchant for teenage romance movies, do steer clear or you'll find yourself getting pretty bored at predictability.

I saw the updated Shakespeare/de-Vere play "She's the Man", and saw the trailer for this flick. I'd been wanting to rent it at Blockbuster because it looked like it might be worth a chuckle or two. So there I am in the local Safeway, buying some cereal and milk when I spot the "Love Wrecked" DVD on the impulse rack for three bucks. I'm thinking there's a reason it's $3 (American), but I'm also thinking "Meh, how bad could it be?" I mean, it's got to have at least a couple laughs in it, right? Right?

Err... I grinned here and there, but, well, maybe it's just the dude in me, I'm not sure, because I really like the romantic comedy genre, but this film seemed to fall a little flat. The direction was okay. It could have been better, but it is what it is. The acting for the genre is actually fine. But the story premise wasn't played out to its fullest.

I mean, this had the potential to be a really hilarious film, but the gags and story just seemed to plod along from one superficial "chicks fighting over dude" joke to the next.

I don't know. Maybe I'm being too unfair to the film. I'm not sure I could've done a better job with the script at hand. Then again, I probably wouldn't do any worse.

At least I only paid a few bucks for a copy. If you must watch it, borrow it from a friend, or check out the libraries copy.

Jenny Taylor (Amanda Bynes) is a rabid fan of rock star Jason Masters (Chris Carmack). Alexis (Jamie-Lynn Sigler) is her ever present nemesis. Her best friend Ryan (Jonathan Bennett) is secretly in love with her. She and Ryan go to work at Masters' favorite Caribean resort. The jaded Masters later arrives at the resort with his entourage. Masters falls overboard on a yacht and he's rescued by Jenny. Nobody else notices and the two are stranded on an isolated beach. Jenny discovers that they landed close to the resort but she hides it from Masters. Ryan is convinced to help her in her ruse. Alexis follows Ryan and competes with Jenny while joining in on the ruse.

This is a silly teen comedy. It tries to be a little sexy with Amanda in her bikini. I actually don't mind the Blue Lagoon start. It has some possibilities but it gets too convoluted and too silly. Jamie-Lynn Sigler is not helping anything. Amanda is still a charming performer at the time but this is not good.

I saw it at the 1st Annual Dominican Republic Int'l Film Festival at the Sun Village Resort in Puerto Plata (as already stated, this is the location where it was filmed). I thought it was pretty good. The version they showed us was still in a rough cut stage.

It is most definitely a movie for fans of Amanda. I'm not a big fan but I like her acting style and her "cuteness factor." I would recommend the movie to anyone looking for a light hearted youthful sort of teeny-Hopper movie.

As for the filming location, I would recommend Sun Village to anyone looking for a great Caribbean Vacation. :) Best, Dan