Bad Boy

I settled down for an enjoyable piece of light entertainment, but realised quickly that while it may be light, this film fails to entertain.

Contrived situations would be perfectly acceptable if funny or interesting. There were such nonsensical characters that we actually guessed what would have changed for each female character (or "victim", possibly) in the time between our "hero" bedding them and when he must ask their forgiveness - and got it right, no matter how outlandish or cliched.

As for the Girls Club situation - no spoiler - it was merely insulting and completely unconvincing.

Acting by the two main characters would have helped.

This is easily the worst movie I have seen all year - 2 out of 10.

Bad Boy, screened at the American Film Market 2002 under its working title "Dawg", overcomes a lightweight premise with some believable acting by Denis Leary and Elizabeth Hurley.

Leary is Dawg who is so busy womanizing he arrives too late for his grandmother's funeral but, no matter, she has left him a cool million subject to one condition. As explained by estate executor Anna Lockhart (Hurley), Dawg must contact at least a dozen of the scores of women he has loved and left during his lifetime and beg for their forgiveness. Reluctantly, Dawg sets out on his odyssey which takes him, and the lawyer, to venues throughout California.

Director Victoria Hotchberg, better known for her work in episodic television, keeps the pace lively and interesting and imparts a degree of charm to the project. Not a major film but an entertaining candidate for anyone's date-movie list.

The sex comedy is a dying breed of movie, kept alive be the

occassional success of movies such as the American Pie trilogy

and the faint memory of classics such as Nerds, Porkies, and

other 'coming of age' films.

Bad Boy (known as Dawg in Australia) has an interesting enough

premise. To inherit a million dollars womaniser Doug 'Dawg'

Munford must get apologies from twelve of his one night stands.

Doug (played by Denis Leary) is accompanied by Anne Lockheart

(Liz Hurley), who must witness these apologies for the inheritance

to be earned.

Ok, Liz Hurley looks good. She looks very good. In fact, let's take a

moment to reflect on just how good looking Liz Hurley is. Now, if

this movie was a porno, that'd be great- but it's not, it's a comedy

(or an attempt at one). Whilst drama may be seen as the 'true'

cinema, comedy takes a lot of ability to achieve, and Liz does not

have that ability. The movie would have been worse without Denis

Leary, who is at his usual sarcastic best, working as hard as he

can with a script completely devoid of any real wit.

Am I the only person in the world who finds it slightly unbelievable

that not one of his twelve 'conquests' is remotely normal. I know,

for comedic purposes it's funny that he's slept with twins, a

pornstar, a scary cat woman, and even a girl who has become a

man- but if you're going to stretch believability, it needs to be done

well. I didn't find myself laughing once during the movie, and that's

a mean feat.

So often someone decides to make a 'sex comedy' and thinks

that's all they need to do to make it funny. It's true, sex is a funny

act. It's also a big drawcard for a male audience (who we must

assume this chauvanistic piece was constructed for), but you

need to either have some funny situations or some funny

one-liners. This film had none of them.

See if you liked: Denis Leary. Liz Hurley. Strengths: Liz Hurley and a supporting cast of cute women Weaknesses: Lacks comedy. Liz Hurley's acting. My Rating: 2.5 out of 10

You can counter a familier subject in this movie; A man has to do a mission to inherit a fortune from will. (Bachelor, Brewster's Millions etc.)

Douglas "Dawg" (Leary) is our man. He is selfish, rude and totally not caring about what a woman thinks after he gets his sex. He doesn't mostly remember them afterwards either. When his grandmother dies (which it seems doesn't affect Dawg either), in her will it is written that Douglas can inherit his grandmother's fortune which he wasn't aware of worth a million dollars. This is where Lawyer Anna Lockheart (Hurley) comes in. She's to witness that Dawg gets to hear "I forgive you" from his twelve ex-girlfriends.

I really didn't have a laughter while watching that movie nor I didn't feel any warmness as a romantic picture but I can't say I regretted watching it. Personally I think the ending could be better but well... It's as good as it gets. 7/10

Would you risk this embarrassment to collect inheritance money? The movie focuses on a wealthy bloke that has been a player with the women over the years. When his grandmother dies, she didn't approve of his player mentality, she made a stipulation in her will that he get 12 women to tell him they forgive him for his past transgressions before he can claim the sizable inheritance. And with Elizabeth Hurley along for the ride as the attorney to confirm the women's forgiveness, the movie sets off. Get ready for a slew of what hijinks will occur and what morals will he learn along the way and will old grandma be savvier than one may think? This is slightly better than expected with a genuine twist. Cinematically, there was zero care for cinematography as it was sitcom quality. There was occasional cause for light snickering. Something to watch while folding laundry.