You can say what you want about Dane Cook’s
comedic-chops—there are certainly a few critical observations I
could make about his taste in humor—but there’s no denying that
the actor has, in a mere two pictures, developed a unique and
marketable brand out of his career. Between Good Luck Chuck
and My Best Friend’s Girl, Cook has starred in a pair of
films that boasts a rare blend of standard romantic-comedy
trappings for women and gross-out humor for men. While the
former film wasn’t good enough to earn the high gross that
Cook’s sub-genre may be capable of garnering and this new one
isn’t substantially better, I can’t help but sense that their
star has a bright future ahead of himself in Hollywood. If he
works with a writer and a director who understand his talents
and how they appeal to date-moviegoers of both sexes, Cook will
have a bona fide hit on his hands sometime soon. That hit is not
My Best Friend’s Girl, but one could surely do worse than
the picture as far as airy mainstream cinema goes.
In the positive-traits column,
My Best Friend’s Girl notably does the same thing right that
Good Luck Chuck did: treat sex in an effectively frank
manner. This approach lends itself to many naturally clever and
funny moments. My Best Friend’s Girl accomplishes the
task in a superior way to its predecessor, too; whereas the
earlier Cook film was slapsticky and obnoxious in its
exploration of human sexuality thanks to screenwriter Josh
Stolberg’s cartoonish characters and plot, this one feels less
gimmicky and more affable. Good Luck Chuck trivialized
the sex-life of Cook’s main character (if you remember, women
vied to sleep with him because they would then be guaranteed to
later magically find their true soul-mate). My Best Friend’s
Girl, on the other hand, goes for a more grounded approach
within a similar mold. Cook plays Tank, a carefree guy who
fellow males hire to be their recent-ex’s awful “rebound date”.
The goal: Tank will treat the women so awfully that they’ll have
no choice but to realize what good guys their old boyfriends
(Tank’s clientele) really were and get back together with them.
One of Tank’s clients is also his
roommate and pal, Dustin (Jason Biggs). Dustin wants nothing
more but to get his on-again-off-again girlfriend Alexis (Kate
Hudson) to commit to him despite his own skewed ideas of
commitment. “You want to move in together? We haven’t
even had sex yet!” she boisterously responds to his proposition
that they shack-up. The results, as any cynical viewer might
expect, are disastrous: Tank and Alexis end up actually falling
in love, leaving Tank with no choice but to sneak around with
Alexis and secretly betray his friend.
The cast is charming. Cook avoids
his sometimes-annoying presence, providing further evidence that
his developing brand will become successful. Hudson is as
attractive as ever in the movie—well, maybe she was a little
more enticing in Fool’s Gold when she was prowling around
in a bikini—and charms from the second she first appears
onscreen. It’s nice to see that Biggs hasn’t died since
American Wedding, too. And Alec Baldwin turns in a strong
supporting performance that lends itself to the funniest
character in the movie: Tank’s sex-hungry women’s studies
professor of a father.
To a certain extent, I’m misleading
you, the reader, in my comments thus far. Writing this piece, I
seem to have forged an admiration for the movie that is based
more on its selling-potential than its overall quality. Yes, I
like My Best Friend’s Girl’s attitude towards sex and I
like its cast, but when have ever I let two elements I enjoy
about an otherwise-mediocre picture dominate the body of a
review? I can’t think of a single separate instance.
So I might as well conclude by
discussing the aspects of My Best Friend’s Girl I didn’t
like, which are indeed abundant as my two-bucket rating would
indicate. (For the record, I only recommend the picture for
DVD-viewing because there are frankly at least three better
date-movie comedies in release right now.) Most prominent among
said aspects is the fact that the picture adheres to nearly
every plot-convention typical of a romantic-comedy, making for
the most dryly uninvolving narrative I’ve seen all year. The
only part of the equation that is even less interesting is the
cast of the characters; while convincingly portrayed by likable
actors and saved by their often-witty candor, these people
represent nothing more than cookie-cutter Hollywood creations.
And don’t even get me started on how insipid Howard Deutch’s
direction is; thanks to his wobbly hand, the movie’s pacing is
cumbersome and the comedic-timing of the actors and the material
is often destroyed by technical incompetence.
All told, My Best Friend’s Girl
may not be anything special in and of itself, much as I notice
its potential. Nonetheless, watch out for that Cook. Many
critics, myself included, may have written him off back when the
putrid likes of Waiting… and Employee of the Month
found their ways onto cinema-screens. But I think the guy is
onto something; whether that something will be as artistically
satisfying as it is monetarily profitable remains the only
variable left to be pondered.
-Danny Baldwin, Bucket Reviews
Review Published on: 9.19.2008
Screened on: 9.15.2008 at the ArcLight Cinerama Dome
Premiere in Hollywood, CA
