 I haven't actually watched this one since it was in theaters back in 2005. At the time, I remember having a lot of fun with it, laughing at Ryan Reynolds' actions the same way we laugh at him in the 'Deadpool' movies now. This viewing was one I still had fun with, but it's not quite what I remembered. I had this listed as "Under the Radar" because I feel like no one talks about it anymore, and it falls under the "forgotten" category. Although I feel like one can still enjoy this, given its subject matter, it's a bit dated with some of its terminology. More on that later.
The film opens in 1995, where an overweight high school senior named Chris Brander (Ryan Reynolds) is crushing hard on his best friend, Jamie Palamino (Amy Smart). He confesses his feelings to her in her yearbook, which gets read aloud by her ex boyfriend, Tim (Ty Olsson). Despite Jamie thinking it was incredibly sweet, Chris is ruthlessly made fun of for it. To rub salt in his wound, Jamie also mentions how good of a "friend" he is, hence the film's title. Chris storms off and leaves town, claiming he'd make something of himself. Sure enough, fast-forward ten years, and he has lost weight, and become a successful record producer and womanizer - just about the opposite of what he was ten years prior. Chris is asked by his CEO, KC (Stephen Root) to accompany a pop singer he once dated, Samantha James (Anna Faris) to Paris. The idea is to butter her up, so she'll sign with the company's label. Chris reluctantly agrees, knowing what he's getting into, having their relationship end with him in the hospital. Thing go awry almost immediately when Samantha sets fire to her private jet by putting tinfoil in its microwave. This causes them to make an emergency landing in New Jersey, close to Chris' hometown. This allows Chris to bring Samantha to his mother's house to spend the night, or however long they need. Chris and Samantha hit up the town that night, where Chris runs into more of his past, including friends Clark (Fred Ewanuick), Darla (Amy Matysio) and of course, Jamie, who Chris realizes he has some mixed emotions for. He figures that now that he's made something of himself, he can simply seduce her and basically be shallow about things in a bit of a revenge plot. But somewhere deep down, is still the sweet, chubby man child he once was, and little by little he realizes his feelings are more genuine than his plans. This is especially true when he gets some competition in the form of Dusty Dinkleman (Chris Klein); someone even lower on the high school totem pole than he was, who has also seemingly made something of himself. As mentioned earlier, I personally find myself still enjoying this movie despite a few dated aspects about it. The key to it is the whole "just friends" theme it plays; a zone I know all too well. I suppose to keep it short, this is a movie that suggests that the whole "friend zone" thing doesn't necessarily have to be a bad thing, AND that if you play your cards right as the friend, it COULD (no promises, whatsoever) lead to something deeper eventually down the line. It's a movie that suggests we need to just be ourselves if we want results, and not try so hard to impress. It's kind of an old and cliche message, I suppose, but it's also one that speaks to me on a personal level. I mean, why would you want to be with someone who doesn't like and appreciate you for you? For my money, the film's funny aspects generally come a lot from the side characters. Chris' mother (Julie Hagerty) was a good laugh, being a touch senile, but ever so sweet. She's a bit of a reflection of Aunt Bethany from 'Christmas Vacation'. A lot of the loose throwing around of "gay is bad" comes from Chris' brother, Mike (Christopher Marquette) and it's something I can't quite wrap my head around. The kid is an 18-year-old dummy type in 2005, so I feel like one could see it as satire just as easily as one could find it offensive. A lot of his humor comes from the sibling rivalry he has with Chris, along with his obsession with Samantha. Whether or not this is your cup of tea, it's a movie I still enjoy for myself. There's a lot of good laughs here, and by the end, an interesting message for those perpetually caught in that friend zone. To me, the film basically tells us how much of a pain in the ass the friend zone is, but with the right amount of patience, it can possibly lead to something great. The funny thing is, the whole movie ends on a gag that suggests this is something that's bound to happen to just about anyone, and it happens so quick, you hardly even realize it. It's not an annual watch for me, and honestly, Christmas is only really a backdrop for it. But there's a bitter yet humorous reality to it I can't help but appreciate, and I still get plenty of laughs through it. 3/5
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 Arthouse films have always been such a hit or miss thing for me. I usually never fully end up enjoying them, but certain things about them will always stand out. This one is no exception. If I'm honest, I really didn't enjoy myself with it. Yet SOMEHOW, there was a certain, if you'll forgive the pun, haunting beauty to it that still came through.
The story follows a nameless couple, according to IMDb, known as "C" (Casey Affleck) and "M" (Rooney Mara). Basically, C dies in a car accident, and we follow his ghost in Halloween costume sheet form as he watches his wife mourn, move on, as well as other events that occur around the property. And I'm not kidding about this, time travel is included. Oh yeah, this ghost goes into the past. But I'm getting ahead of myself. The thing about an arthouse film like this is that I like to interpret it for myself as opposed to whatever the director was going for because, well, it's art. And often times I find myself matched up pretty well. But with this one, I kinda just hope I got the point. Starting with various criticisms, I'd have to say my biggest one is that all too often, we need to remain focused on one scene where nothing seems to be happening. For example, there's a scene where C watches M eat a pie for, and I times this, 5 minutes. It's a scene in which she's meant to be mourning, and it's dragged out to sort of represent how long coping with a loved one's death can feel. So in its own way (and if I'm accurate) it's kinda clever, but at the same time, I couldn't help but get frustrated at the fact that nothing was happening. The thing about this particular film is that there's a hell of a lot of that - focusing on one scene for too long. It almost feels like lazy filler, whether they were going for something more deep or not. It's just plain boring, really. This film, to me, was the on-screen version of watching paint dry. I just found it far too tedious. But as I mentioned before, this is not without a certain beauty, as well. We get to see their relationship while C is still alive, and it's actually far more loving and intimate than most relationships you see on screen. It's almost the kind of intimacy where you can't help but look at it and think to yourself "I want that kind of relationship" (speaking for myself, of course) anyway, it really shows us how close they were, making his death that much more tragic, along with the amount of time the ghost seems to also mourn. It's an interesting concept altogether (the ghost's perspective), but parts of it, like the time travel bit, kinda took me right out of it. I never really got the point, other than it eventually referring to earlier events (and not even in that interesting of a way). So, I'm afraid I kinda have to go against the grain with other reviewers on this one. A Rotten Tomato rating of 90%, and a Metacritic rating of 84% really holds this movie in high regard. But for me, I guess it was just a bit much with how much it felt like it dragged. Again, perhaps that was for a good reason and what the director was going for. But that doesn't mean I have to like it. 2/5  Here we have something on the more charming side of the whole time travel thing. While it may not be a film that makes you think (it's a breath of fresh air after 'Primer', for sure) and put your brain to work on finding whatever loopholes are in the time travel plot, it's rather a story grounded a little more in reality, and offers up good use of audience imagination. The question of whether time travel is possible or not is explored more so than the time travel itself - all taking place in present day.
We are introduced to Darius Britt (Aubrey Plaza), an intern for Seattle Magazine, as well as one of the magazine's writers, Jeff Schwensen (Jake Johnson). Jeff proposes that the magazine does a story on the source of a classified ad in the paper. The ad requests a partner for time travel, and is written incognito, but eventually we learn it's a guy named Kenneth Calloway (Mark Duplass). Darius is sent in to use her charms to get a story from the guy, but soon gets caught up in Kenneth's full belief that he can time travel. Meanwhile, being in town anyway, Jeff seeks out an old flame, Liz (Jenica Bergere), and a whole side story happens there as well. Not to downplay it though. It actually develops Jeff's character quite nicely, and adds to the charm of the whole movie. But the heart and soul of the film is definitely Kenneth. He's that guy who believes in crazy stuff so vividly that, while he may come across as a tad creepy, you can't help but appreciate him for being able to think outside the box as he does. If you're looking for a full-fledged time travel movie here, you'll never find it. But that, to me at least, keeps it interesting - a movie about time travel, but not a time travel movie. Again, whenever it comes to time travel movies, there's almost always something anyone can spot as an error in the time loop. This just avoids all of that by making it about the concept more than the event, and I have to appreciate it for that, even though it may come as just another romance movie to others. As I've mentioned before, there's honestly just a simple charm to this movie. It doesn't over complicate anything, you like and care about the characters, and it's actually really quite funny, too. Now, I should probably also mention that this is the nicest I think I've ever seen Aubrey Plaza as a character. She's kinda that girl next door type here, and it's a nice change from how we usually see her - typecast as a *ahem* well, I won't use the word, but if you've seen her in almost anything, you know. This is a nice opportunity to see the sweeter side of her. 5/5 |
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