Dangereuse séduction

Ryan Woodman (Shane West) and Maggie Carter (Marla Sokoloff) are best friends and neighbors. Floyd (Aaron Paul) is their slacker friend. Ryan is obsessed with high school goddess Ashley Grant (Jodi Lyn O'Keefe). Big man on campus Chris Campbell (James Franco) wants to get the one he can't get, the virginal enigmatic Maggie. So he needs Ryan to Cyrano DeBergerac for him. In return he proposes to do the same for Ryan with his cousin Ashley.

The biggest problem is that Shane West is way too good looking for the loser role. They need somebody much more geeky, and a bad haircut really doesn't make it. It's nothing offensive, but it just can't rise above the clichés. It's obvious where this is going, and it has an uncomfortable time getting there.

A nerdy teen, Ryan Woodman (Shane West) is smitten with the popular and gorgeous Ashley Grant (Jodi Lyn O'Keefe), who apparently has no interest in him. Meanwhile, dim star athlete Chris Campbell (James Franco) has his eye on Ryan's brainy and beautiful friend, Maggie Carter (Marla Sokoloff). The two agree to help each other in their romantic quests, but, as they come closer to their goals, both Ryan and Chris suspect that they might be pursuing the wrong girls.

As you can tell, "Whatever It Takes" is certainly nothing new or ground-breaking, but for what it is, it's entertaining and slightly above-average. James Franco is the best thing about this movie, although his character and their motive is very questionable. He's what kept me sticking around until the credits roll. The film has every teen cliché in the book, geeky sidekicks in Whatever It Takes are no better or worse than those in a dozen other teen movies of recent vintage, but they get the job done. Despite its flaws there's something sweet and delightfully anarchic about it, it's light, fluffy, fast-paced, and through the use of overdone ideas are a couple original moments. So despite its formulaic plot and all-too-tired themes, this John Hughes-movie wannabe has just enough quirky charm to compensate for its generic story.

In the lines of She's All That, Columbia Pictures brings Whatever It Takes, a teen comedy with all the cliches. The story is fairly simple, unpopular guy (Shane West) is in love with hottest girl in the school (Jodi Lyn O'Keefe). His beautiful yet different female friend (Marla Sokoloff) is being adored by the hottest guy in the school (James Franco). So the unpopular guy and the popular guy team up to get the girls. They both help each other in ways that aren't normal to each other. But when the unpopular guy realizes that what he was looking for was right under his nose everything becomes chaotic. The performances are good. Nobody does a stand out job but they all do the best with what they have. The jokes are at times really funny and at times a complete waist of time. There is a lot of racy material for a PG-13 movie. Many of the sexual jokes can get pretty bad. If your a teenager I think you will enjoy this film. Whatever It Takes is a sometime enjoyable and sometime funny teen comedy with a reused plot and many teen comedy cliches. If your looking for a comedy that breaks new ground this just ain't it. But if your looking to enjoy yourself, you might just get a kick out of it.

Lacks the heart of the other more well known 90s/2000s teen movies. It just feels like there's no substance and it's really hard to root for anyone because you never really get to know anyone.

I thought this film had some really funny moments and good lines. Marla Sokoloff was perfect for his role, and so was James Franco, who looks as cocky as his character in the film is. The other actress Jodie was played over the top, because she has all these hissy fits which can be funny to watch or annoying. Overall good job but the ending is dumb