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My Best Friend's Girl
What it's about:
Tank (Dane Cook) is the guy other guys hire to help them get their ex-girlfriends back. Not a matchmaker in the traditional sense, Tank's method involves taking said girl on the worst date of her life so that she ends up running back to the guy she dumped when she realises how good she had it. But things get complicated when Tank's roommate Dustin (Jason Biggs) needs his services after Alexis (Kate Hudson) rejects him, and the sparks fly between Tank and his new target.
What we thought of it:
There comes a point where some Hollywood stars need to rethink their career paths. And that point has certainly come and gone for Kate Hudson. So long considered the heir to Julia Roberts' "America's Sweetheart" title, Hudson surely has wrenched all the worth out of that dubious honour, starring as the object of affection for a parade of hapless hunks ever since her breakout in Almost Famous, to the point that she is now a parody of herself.
But her "people" will have you believe that My Best Friend's Girl is something of a departure for Hudson – because she swears like a sailor and has copious amounts of raunchy sex in it. Well, they're lying, because this movie only marks a new low for the once-promising starlet, while the profanity and decidedly un-raunchy sex only come off looking desperate and cheap.
Amazingly, Hudson doesn't falter nearly as badly as her co-stars, or the sex-obsessed frat boy who conceived of this poor excuse for a sex comedy. Dane Cook (who he?) is inexplicably cast in the lead as the "anti-Cupid" Tank, whom he plays with such a smug swagger, you have to wonder who died and made him the new Matthew McConaughey (another of Hudson's on-screen conquests… twice!)
Tank is meant to be a bit of a bastard. How else is he supposed to be any good at turning women off so that they return to their ex-boyfriends? But Cook is unable to filter his character's bastard-factor – and as a result, Tank has zero redeeming qualities – he really is just a disgusting loser who sees women as nothing but objects he can penetrate. At Alexis' sister’s wedding, Tank realises that Alexis is falling for his unique "charm" and has to quickly devise a plan to make her hate him instead. And so, he goes about teaching a group of eight-year-old boys how to fake an orgasm, gets drunk and throws up all over the bride before propositioning her mother for oral sex in full view of guests.
The reasons for Tank's personality defects are explained by the introduction of his father (played by Alec Baldwin), a college professor of women's studies who is even more of a chauvinist than his son (oh, the irony! etc, etc). Baldwin enjoys some jaw-droppingly dirty dialogue with Cook and seems to relish the role so much, he comes closest to raising a chuckle. Albeit a guilty one. That's because just about all the "jokes" come at the expense of the poor female folk who have the dishonour of sharing their world with men as shallow and sleazy as these.
The climate is ripe for irreverent sex comedies. How else do you explain the massive success of writer-producer Judd Apatow and his cast of horny no-hopers in Knocked Up, The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Superbad? But My Best Friend's Girl (what a lazy, dull title) doesn't come close to achieving an ounce of their magical wit and biting humour. Instead it's the movie equivalent of societal de-evolution, and that's just about as scary a prospect as you can get.
The movie's greatest achievement has been the now-infamous (and very funny) rant from Cook on his MySpace blog, lampooning the studio's marketing department for their ham-fisted work on the movie's promotional poster. Here, at least, this unlikely leading man has made a valid point. If only he'd exerted as much comedic effort where it really mattered…
- Shaheema Barodien
Get published on Channel24! Send us your movie, music and live gig reviews and columns and get published on Channel24. Send your articles to PublishMe@sa.24.com.
Tank (Dane Cook) is the guy other guys hire to help them get their ex-girlfriends back. Not a matchmaker in the traditional sense, Tank's method involves taking said girl on the worst date of her life so that she ends up running back to the guy she dumped when she realises how good she had it. But things get complicated when Tank's roommate Dustin (Jason Biggs) needs his services after Alexis (Kate Hudson) rejects him, and the sparks fly between Tank and his new target.
What we thought of it:
There comes a point where some Hollywood stars need to rethink their career paths. And that point has certainly come and gone for Kate Hudson. So long considered the heir to Julia Roberts' "America's Sweetheart" title, Hudson surely has wrenched all the worth out of that dubious honour, starring as the object of affection for a parade of hapless hunks ever since her breakout in Almost Famous, to the point that she is now a parody of herself.
But her "people" will have you believe that My Best Friend's Girl is something of a departure for Hudson – because she swears like a sailor and has copious amounts of raunchy sex in it. Well, they're lying, because this movie only marks a new low for the once-promising starlet, while the profanity and decidedly un-raunchy sex only come off looking desperate and cheap.
Amazingly, Hudson doesn't falter nearly as badly as her co-stars, or the sex-obsessed frat boy who conceived of this poor excuse for a sex comedy. Dane Cook (who he?) is inexplicably cast in the lead as the "anti-Cupid" Tank, whom he plays with such a smug swagger, you have to wonder who died and made him the new Matthew McConaughey (another of Hudson's on-screen conquests… twice!)
Tank is meant to be a bit of a bastard. How else is he supposed to be any good at turning women off so that they return to their ex-boyfriends? But Cook is unable to filter his character's bastard-factor – and as a result, Tank has zero redeeming qualities – he really is just a disgusting loser who sees women as nothing but objects he can penetrate. At Alexis' sister’s wedding, Tank realises that Alexis is falling for his unique "charm" and has to quickly devise a plan to make her hate him instead. And so, he goes about teaching a group of eight-year-old boys how to fake an orgasm, gets drunk and throws up all over the bride before propositioning her mother for oral sex in full view of guests.
The reasons for Tank's personality defects are explained by the introduction of his father (played by Alec Baldwin), a college professor of women's studies who is even more of a chauvinist than his son (oh, the irony! etc, etc). Baldwin enjoys some jaw-droppingly dirty dialogue with Cook and seems to relish the role so much, he comes closest to raising a chuckle. Albeit a guilty one. That's because just about all the "jokes" come at the expense of the poor female folk who have the dishonour of sharing their world with men as shallow and sleazy as these.
The climate is ripe for irreverent sex comedies. How else do you explain the massive success of writer-producer Judd Apatow and his cast of horny no-hopers in Knocked Up, The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Superbad? But My Best Friend's Girl (what a lazy, dull title) doesn't come close to achieving an ounce of their magical wit and biting humour. Instead it's the movie equivalent of societal de-evolution, and that's just about as scary a prospect as you can get.
The movie's greatest achievement has been the now-infamous (and very funny) rant from Cook on his MySpace blog, lampooning the studio's marketing department for their ham-fisted work on the movie's promotional poster. Here, at least, this unlikely leading man has made a valid point. If only he'd exerted as much comedic effort where it really mattered…
- Shaheema Barodien
Get published on Channel24! Send us your movie, music and live gig reviews and columns and get published on Channel24. Send your articles to PublishMe@sa.24.com.
