Bad Boy

Doug (Denis Leary) is a financial planner who makes the mistake of having a fling with an older woman, for she turns out to be his boss' wife. Poor Dawgie is promptly fired. To add insult to injury, the small time cad's grandmother dies, too. Late for the funeral, Doug nevertheless is startled to meet his grandmother's lawyer, Anna (Elizabeth Hurley) who promptly informs him that he, Doug, is the only heir. But, wait. Although he could inherit a million flat, there are conditions. Doug's grandmother knew all too well of her relative's penchant for flings with a long line of women and, therefore, her will decrees that Doug must get twelve old flames to say the words "I forgive you" before he can touch the dough. Horrors! Yet, Doug is a savvy operator and when he and Anna start on their journey to track down his ex's, she is amazed to find he can sometimes trick his way into getting the women to speak the appropriate phrase. Will he succeed in pocketing the money? This is a humorous and clever romcom but, as it walks on the wild side from time to time, can not be described as "good, clean fun". If you love Doris Day, your eyebrows might raise a bit over this one. Even so, Leary and Hurley are a dynamite combination, very funny and engaging. The west coast scenery is also quite nice while the costuming is first rate. All of the movie's production values are fine, too. As for the script, it is very comical, as some of Doug's past girlfriends are eccentric, to say the least. If you a seeker of funny love stories, you should check this one out. It is not a "dawg" at all but, rather, should fill an otherwise dull evening with some big laughs and sighs.

Leary and Hurley hook up again for this fun little romcom romp which aired on cable under the title "Dawg". IMHO better than their previous collaboration "Double Whammy", this flick tells of a womanizer who will inherit a fortune if he can be forgiven his sexual trespasses by a dozen of his womanized victims. Hurley, attorney for the estate, tags along to bear witness leading to much fun, silly moments, a whiff of romance, a sentimental thread, and a kicker at the end. "Dawg" may not be Oscar material but it is quirky, unpredictable, and carries a message and a moral. Worth a look especially by romantic comedy suckers like moi. (B-)

Being an insomniac, I caught this movie on HBO late at night. I understand the movie never made it to theaters...and I can understand why. It's not a horrible film, but not worth the price of admission. It's basically a farce, filled with sitcom-like scenarios and low-brow humor. But I was entertained, partially because I just like Denis Leary. The plot doesn't contain much logic. Leary's character is forced to make his amends with 12 of his ex-girlfriends, who he just used for sex, in order to receive millions of dollars from his grandmother's will. In order to receive the inheritance, each woman must literally say the words "I forgive you." First of all, what are the chances that every one of these women are going to be home when he shows up at the door? And the way in which these women say "I forgive you" is solely motivated by the plot and not their characters. Even if they did want to forgive Leary's character, why do they all phrase their forgiveness in those three exact words? As I said, this movie doesn't contain much logic. I did laugh, though. This is simply one of those flicks you check out when it airs late night on cable when there's nothing else on.

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.

It pains me also to say so, since I too appreciate Leary's humour, but this movie was not funny or entertaining at all. Hasting's script and the resulting movie were terrible. In fact, the only thing positive about this movie was that Leary appeared in it. In other words, if he just ate at the funeral's buffet making comments about the grieving chicks the movie would have been just as fulfilling.

This general story idea wrapped around a true Leary character had potential to be good and funny despite following the common Hollywood formula: unsuspecting undeserving egoist must become somewhat changed to get a reward. But, unfortunately the movie was overly predictable and predicated on a stupid task: get a dozen ex-girlfriends to forgive him. ... Most of them still liked him, and banged him again, which made me think he was more of a stud than an a**hole.

Someone seemed to forget that Leary is best playing an a**hole - after all he did write and produce the song proclaiming himself so - and that this script was supposed to be about one. There were so many opportunities to capitalize on his true to life jerk humour that were slap-sickish instead. This is just plain terrible writing. I think given the time Leary could've made this stupid script funny.

I watched the whole thing waiting and waiting, either for Leary to be funny or Hurly to get naked but to no avail. I'm going to watch No Cure For Cancer again to try and forgive Leary for being involved in this waste of a project.