Just Friends (2005)

Genre: Romantic Comedy

Directed by: Roger Kumble

Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Amy Smart, Anna Faris

Running time: 94 minutes

Back in high school, Chris Brander was a fat unpopular kid with a retainer and his best friend was beautiful Jamie Palamino, on whom he had a secret crush. After graduation, he decided it was time to declare his love for Jamie, but plans backfired and he got humiliated by his whole graduation class. Ten years later, he has moved from New Jersey to LA, has lost the excess weight and has become a womanizer who concentrates of superficial matters when it comes to relationships. As part of his job as a record producer, he is sent to accompany a pop icon on a trip to Paris to ensure that everything runs smoothly. Unfortunately, a fire forces the plane to land down near Chris’ hometown. He brings the starlet home to his mother’s house, where he will have to finally deal with the past from which he ran away.

This is your typical run-of-the-mill romantic comedy with the beautiful people getting together in the end in spite of all the obstacles. The good kid who has become a bad man gets reformed; you see the drill. Felt like my story up until the weight loss part came in, though I did end up with a beautiful woman. Yay me! Anyways, Ryan Reynolds and Amy Smart are not atrocious here, but they are nothing special either. Chris Klein and Anna Faris, on the other hand, are horribly over-the-top. With Faris, it is not that surprising.

Overall, Just Friends is a very predictable romantic comedy, and the acting is not good enough to save it. The humor also usually falls flat, so that doesn’t help either. If I were you, I would not bother with this one; there are better titles in this genre.

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