Eight Days a Week

Although I would never call this movie a masterpiece, and I don't care to own it, I was surprised by its quality. You might say that if one's expectations are low enough, anything can seem surprisingly good, but if your expectations are that low you wouldn't rent the movie to begin with.

Although this movie didn't begin its life as a stage play, it easily could have as 90 percent of it is shot in the front yard of the character played by Keri Russell. The movie is reminiscent of John Cusak's "The Sure Thing" for the way it shamelessly admires the body and beauty of Keri Russell. And much of the humor recalls "There's Something About Mary" and "American Pie."

I do have a complaint, though, for the way the filmmaker makes buffoons out of Keri Russell's Christian parents. The consensus in Hollywood is that serious Christians are pathetic hypocrites who have no understanding or tolerance for others. Whoever made this movie must be a particularly virulent example of the Hollywood Christian-loather considering the extent to which he makes foolish villains out of Keri Russell's parents.

Peter is utterly infatuated with his longtime neighbor Erica (Keri Russell). With 3 months left before she goes to an east coast college, his grandfather Nonno urges him to go for it. He decides to stay on her front lawn. She tells him that she wants to be "just friends". His best friend Matt is obsessed with self-pleasure even with a watermelon. She is going out with the bully Nick. Peter waits day after day on her front lawn as he observes the neighborhood.

This reminds me a little of American Pie with masturbating inside food. It also tries to be a sweet coming-of-age movie. The two aspects do clash. On the one hand, Keri Russell has a wet T-shirt scene and Peter pontificates about her breast. On the other hand, it's a sugary sweet puppy love story. The old lady's revelations are really compelling but Michael Davis sometimes goes down a cheesy kiddie movie road. Joshua Schaefer is good as the lead but his narrations should be trim down. Finally, R.D. Robb is not funny enough to be the comedic best friend.

i saw Eight Days a Week one night late on HBO, and I thought it was really funny. I liked the way jokes were presented and narrated by the main character Peter who has sort of a dry sense of humor. I recommend this to any teenager, also if you like this movie you must see 100 Girls, which in my opinion is almost a rip off,(although also good) of Eight Days a week with a few more twists in it. See this movie.

This is movie is a vehicle for Keri Russell to show us her physical stuff. After her extended wet t-shirt and bikini shots, and an an underwear bedroom scene, not much of her is left to the imagination in this film. Which, frankly, is fine by me. I've seen movies with less going for them. :-)

Otherwise, the film's premise is ridiculous. There is lots of sexual humor, as well as almost-funny references to human waste products. Nevertheless, there are some genuinely funny moments, almost none of which involve our main characters, the funniest of which involve a recurring young pre-teen neighborhood bully.

Most memorable scenes: Keri Russell's wet t-shirt and bikini shots.

A film that I'd never heard of and chanced upon by accident, Eight Days a Week deserves to be a mainstay of teen cinema in the same way that John Hughes' eighties work is.

Joshua Schaeffer has just the right balance of geek and cool individualism to pull off a character that could very easily fall into stalker territory and R.D. Robb is excellent as his sex-obsessed sidekick; keeping what could very easily become a caricature grounded in reality. The supporting cast of oddballs never overshadow the main story, but equally don't feel like padding as we learn more about their slightly kooky lives.

It's a shame that films like this go unnoticed in a world where much more crass attempts at summing up teenage life (complete with thirty year old actors) can become box office hits.