Sept. 22, 2008
RUTHERFORD ON FILM: 'MY BEST FRIEND’S GIRL'
Humorous Gems Beget Emeralds in Dating Saboteur Romance
By Tony Rutherford
Huntingtonnews.net Reporter
Huntington, WV (HNN) -- When you blow it with the one you love or when you really want to give her a taste of bad boy Hades, you give Tank (Dane Cook ) a call. He supplements his telemarketing income by taking women on the worst date they ever imagined. Once the lady has a good taste of his jerkiness, she quickly goes back to her ‘ex,’ who -- unbeknownst to her -- paid heavily for Tank’s services.
Maintaining an upbeat, mood of frivolity, “My Best Friend’s Girl’ playfully and outrageously offends, particularly when the walking a-hole falls into a quandary. He takes out his roommate’s girl on a well intentioned bad date, but due to her own drunkenness, she fails to hate the professional date saboteur. Now, Tank’s in a backfire bind when his roommate’s ‘ex’ finds the worst of his behavior, well, alluring.
Director Howard ( “The Replacements,” “Billy Joel: Essential Video Collection” ) Deutch has a rep for turning romances about ordinary people with quirks into mini-classics. He started with red-headed Molly Ringwald in the John Hughes stamped “Pretty in Pink” followed with “Some Kind of Wonderful,” “The Great Outdoors,” “Odd Couple II,” and “Grumpier Old Men.”
Deutch ensures character foibles brightly and spritely shine, so Dane (“Good Luck Chuck”) Cook and Kate Hudson each have an assortment of underlying idiosyncrasies, which under magnification asserts their real “me” personas. Hudson swivels from a beautiful nice girl with a commitment complex to a woman who tells a suitor he’s “not Mr. Right Now” so she can ignite and exhaust serial one-night stands to determine what out there in dating land. By contrast, Cook has a jovial mean spirited sense of humor that adapts succinctly to emotional terrorism.
Golden gems turn into emeralds, specifically the cross-toting gal at a not so sacred Jesus themed restaurant and a tsunami wedding catastrophe courtesy of the Satan jerk incarnate. Yet each of these pivotal scenes have clever encores attributable, at least in part, to the women liking bad guys mystique and the unsolvable rubric of a woman’s mind.
Powered with the lyrics of the title song, “My Best Friend’s Girl” splatters laugh after laugh, including those you may blush about later. Still, for any dumpee who’s contrived, schemed and dreamed of winning back the ‘ex’ situations, this flick could provide entrepreneurial fodder for an enterprise to counter those that hire another to send an ‘it’s over’ text.
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RUTHERFORD ON FILM: 'MY BEST FRIEND’S GIRL'
Humorous Gems Beget Emeralds in Dating Saboteur Romance
By Tony Rutherford
Huntingtonnews.net Reporter
Huntington, WV (HNN) -- When you blow it with the one you love or when you really want to give her a taste of bad boy Hades, you give Tank (Dane Cook ) a call. He supplements his telemarketing income by taking women on the worst date they ever imagined. Once the lady has a good taste of his jerkiness, she quickly goes back to her ‘ex,’ who -- unbeknownst to her -- paid heavily for Tank’s services.
Maintaining an upbeat, mood of frivolity, “My Best Friend’s Girl’ playfully and outrageously offends, particularly when the walking a-hole falls into a quandary. He takes out his roommate’s girl on a well intentioned bad date, but due to her own drunkenness, she fails to hate the professional date saboteur. Now, Tank’s in a backfire bind when his roommate’s ‘ex’ finds the worst of his behavior, well, alluring.
Director Howard ( “The Replacements,” “Billy Joel: Essential Video Collection” ) Deutch has a rep for turning romances about ordinary people with quirks into mini-classics. He started with red-headed Molly Ringwald in the John Hughes stamped “Pretty in Pink” followed with “Some Kind of Wonderful,” “The Great Outdoors,” “Odd Couple II,” and “Grumpier Old Men.”
Deutch ensures character foibles brightly and spritely shine, so Dane (“Good Luck Chuck”) Cook and Kate Hudson each have an assortment of underlying idiosyncrasies, which under magnification asserts their real “me” personas. Hudson swivels from a beautiful nice girl with a commitment complex to a woman who tells a suitor he’s “not Mr. Right Now” so she can ignite and exhaust serial one-night stands to determine what out there in dating land. By contrast, Cook has a jovial mean spirited sense of humor that adapts succinctly to emotional terrorism.
Golden gems turn into emeralds, specifically the cross-toting gal at a not so sacred Jesus themed restaurant and a tsunami wedding catastrophe courtesy of the Satan jerk incarnate. Yet each of these pivotal scenes have clever encores attributable, at least in part, to the women liking bad guys mystique and the unsolvable rubric of a woman’s mind.
Powered with the lyrics of the title song, “My Best Friend’s Girl” splatters laugh after laugh, including those you may blush about later. Still, for any dumpee who’s contrived, schemed and dreamed of winning back the ‘ex’ situations, this flick could provide entrepreneurial fodder for an enterprise to counter those that hire another to send an ‘it’s over’ text.
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