Friends & Lovers

Okay, so they're twenty-somethings. Okay, so they've got problems or whatever. But does it strike anyone as odd that these guys tool around in Land Rovers and E-class Mercedes'? And, if they've got the cash for their little romps, why do they road-trip to their ski resort rather than fly? The first twenty minutes alone kill the film, the rest is just its fall to the ground.

Friends and Lovers is a meandering and pointless story about a half dozen depthless characters finding love and sex in a luxury ski lodge. The characters don't seem to have any past but thanks to a talented product placement director, they do have very expensive cars and clothes. Tedious themes (son estranged from father, insensitive Lothario who can't find love) aren't helped any by a gay story line that suggests the writer has never met a gay person in his life. In an industry where producers have to struggle to piece together the funding for a film like "The Opposite of Sex", its upsetting to see such a waste of human effort and money as "Friends and Lovers".

There are some good things and bad things in this movie. The worst is probably Stephen Baldwin, the least talented of the Baldwin brothers, and that's a low bar indeed. Robert Downey Jr. was also insufferable, and I'm not even criticizing the accent. George Newbern was decent, as was Claudia Schiffer, a non-actress. Impressive were the performances of Alison Eastwood and Suzanne Cryer. There are worse ways to spend 1 3/4 hours.

I came to check out a few facts on this movie after watching it. I saw too many negative comments to not make a comment of my own. Critics review this movie very harshly. I thought this movie was awesome. Downey, Dasche, Baldwin, and the rest of the cast will make you laugh for sure. Though Leon wasn't in the flick as much as I would've liked, I still thought it was a great performance. I found myself being drawn in and very interested in this movie. In fact as soon as it was over I immediately rewound it and watched it again. FIND THIS FLICK, AND WATCH IT!

So cliched stupid, that even the nudity fails. The capping scene when the father and son let it all hang out and bury their emotional hatchets into your poor headached viewer skull, while a string quartet nearly drowns the dialogue, is offensively bad in the offensively bad extreme. This is one of those movies where you can tell everyone onscreen is having the time of their lives, and that fact all the more irritates you because you are being tortured while they are up there making merry millions. Whose son or nephew is George Haas for pete's sake?