Amigos, Amigos, Mulheres à Parte

I went to this only because I couldn't get into the movie I came to the theater for. I don't know Dane Cook's stand-up and hated him in the overrated Dan In Real Life. But, we figured we could pass time for two hours so we went in.

It started routinely enough. Okay, the guy gets paid to be the date from heck so the girls goes crying back into her guy's arms. Okay concept, if executed well. Then we get Jason Biggs trying to clean up his act to impress Kate Hudson who likes him but is not wowed by him. Since Jason is Dane's roommate, he hires Dane to do his specialty. By this point, we're 20+ minutes into the movie and it made me laugh twice and is otherwise pretty lame. I looked at my watch. Then, Kate's roommate preps her for the date to sow some wild oats and the real fun begins.

The humor in My Best Friend's Girl is rude, crude, inappropriate, socially irredeemable -- and made me laugh out loud - a lot! Cook's chemistry with Hudson was electric. The twist is she can give as good as she gets and vice versa. She gets under his skin, but he stays in denial, leading to his next assignment which to me was the high point of the movie. The girl is religious and he takes her to a restaurant in an old church called Jesus Crust - where pizza is a religious experience. i don't want to spoil the inspired gags in this sequence, but I was nearly rolling in the aisles. This victim actually winds up setting the stage for a few plot twists I didn't expect. The movie is raucous fun from then on until the end.

I thought Alec Baldwin was absurdly funny as the Women's Studies professor who is Cook's father. His chemistry with Cook is also terrific. Cook's former client who is about to marry Kate's sister is also hilarious as is she and the woman playing Kate's mother. Then, the movie goes a bit soft,conventional, and derivative -- but is still witty at the end, and the last two scenes play out nicely.

This is not a piece of art, but if you ever went to frat parties and can remember having fun at them and want to spend some time laughing out loud, give My Best Friend's Girl a look. I work in Manhattan so I have to be careful to whom I say I liked this movie -- that's why I call it a guilty pleasure!

This movie somehow pulls off being both incredibly vulgar yet completely boring and uninteresting at the same time. Basically it's obvious they decided that this trend of vulgar "romantic" comedies (i.e. American Pie) are bound to cash in so they'll just come up with a bunch of vulgar stuff, throw them together in a mixed bag of rail-thin "plot", add in a big name star (Kate Hudson, totally wasted in this) then spew out the result on movie screens and start counting money. Well this movie is going to flop big time, mark my words. When a movie is this bad it will not do well. Word of mouth is more important than I think studios realize, and this movie will not get much of that, if any at all. Advance reviews are atrocious and they should be. This abortion of a movie is one of the biggest wastes of an hour and a half I've ever experienced. Special mention to Dane Cook's completely hammy and painfully unfunny performance. He's trying so hard that it's sad, not delivering even one laugh, and the preview screening I saw was PACKED. It was noticeably silent throughout save for a few embarrassed giggles/immature teenagers laughing loudly at some of the pointless vulgar parts. Isn't Dane Cook's fifteen minutes up yet? He is one of the least funny "comedians" I've ever seen in a movie. Employee of the month was also a travesty.

Compared to Good Luck Chuck this is a masterpiece. As far as what one will find at the multiplex when looking for a (albiet raunchy) romantic comedy, this is a solid choice, particularly if you like Dane Cook (which I do...go ahead...shoot me). And there are a few lines in the movie that are brilliantly quotable, along with some very nicely shot views of Boston and two countdown montages of Dane destroying dates that are quite funny. Maybe a bit overlong and it probably would have benefited by trimming the inclusion of Alec Baldwin as Dane's dad. But this is the common ground Date Movie for the guy who doesn't want schmaltzy romantic crap and the chick who doesn't mind a few dirty jokes.

Let me state this clearly, if you cannot laugh at raunchy humor, do not go see this movie. However, if you can appreciate the raunchy humor you can truly enjoy this movie. Dane Cook plays an absolutely hilarious jerk throughout the movie, but many may not appreciate the humor he uses.

Yes, this movie is a romantic comedy, but more comedy than romantic. A lot of people seem to dislike Dane Cook and prejudge his movies, but I feel that they let themselves down. If you are offended by vulgarity, just don't go see this movie. If you like Dane Cook or raunchy humor, then you should enjoy watching this movie. I thought it was a pretty good movie and worth seeing once. I don't know that I would own this movie, but I did enjoy the time I spent watching it.

Maybe because I wasn't expecting Oscar material... maybe because I enjoy Dane Cook... maybe because Alec Baldwin can be funny in just about anything... I just really had a good time at this movie. I understand why it doesn't have huge box office appeal, but it certainly has appeal for a specific type of audience. Crude humor? Cheezy plot line? Bring it on! I'm sorry that more people can't enjoy 115 minutes of silly escapism.

Sure, most of it was predictable. Sure, Dane Cook was basically being Dane Cook. But if you let yourself catch all the RIDICULOUS lines (especially the dialog between Alec Baldwin and Dane Cook), and if you let yourself enjoy how cute Kate Hudson is ... you MIGHT just enjoy this movie a little.