Ryan Reynolds may don a fat suit for Just Friends’ countless ‘90s flashbacks, but director Roger Kumble’s romantic comedy – despite its star’s prosthetic poundage – is painfully light on laughs. After having spent his high school years as an overweight nerd hopelessly in love with sexy best friend Jamie (dull-as-always Amy Smart), Chris (Reynolds) grew up to be a suave ladies man and successful record executive. Such a transformation, however, is reversed the moment a freak plane accident lands him – and his ditzy Paris Hilton-esque client Samantha James (a delirious Anna Farris) – back in his New Jersey hometown for Christmas. Once again living with Mom (Julie Hagerty) and hanging out with his old friends, Chris immediately becomes his former loser self, acting like an unreasonably bumbling idiot around Jamie while being humiliated by virtually everyone else he meets. What ensues is nostalgia-tinged slapstick concocted without a shred of ingenuity and easy-bake romance that adheres to the rom-com genre’s every trite convention and cliché. Were it a high school student, Just Friends would easily garner the “Most Likely to Plagiarize With Tepid Results” yearbook designation. Then again, if Just Friends were a high school student, it would also be too stupid to graduate.
Is that not the most anti-advertising poster you've ever seen? There are few images associated with the human face that I can imagine being more unpleasant.
Posted by: Robert Humanick | March 23, 2006 at 01:37 AM
Yes, they really did find a poster image that makes one want to run away from the film. The DVD art, however, has a normal Ryan Reynolds face...
Posted by: Nick | March 24, 2006 at 04:20 PM