Film review - Just Friends (12A)

From the Swindon Advertiser, first published Friday 6th Jan 2006.

TEENAGERS in love are a dangerous breed and their angst and anger can make great comedy material.

But the laughs tend to dry up when they grow up.

Just Friends is a romantic comedy about two lonely people whose High School relationship foundered when one of them dared to say "I love you."

Back in 1995, Chris Baxter (Reynolds) was vastly overweight, painfully shy and never stood a hope of being part of the in-crowd.

He was also madly in love with his best friend, beautiful cheerleader Jamie Palamino (Smart), who crushed his dreams by admitting that she loved him too... but only like a brother.

Humiliated in front of his jeering classmates, Chris vowed revenge.

Ten years since the fireworks of that fateful graduation party, Chris has transformed himself losing half his body mass and polishing his chat-up technique into a successful Los Angeles record company executive.

He's at the top of his game and has just been assigned the unenviable task of working with spoilt socialite Samantha James (Faris), who is bidding for pop stardom with a self-penned album.

By chance, Chris and Samantha find themselves stranded in New Jersey, and they decide to pay a quick visit to his mother (Julie Hagerty) and brother (Chris Marquette).

Old memories come flooding back and Chris is stunned to find Jamie working behind the bar in town, re-igniting his long-buried desires.

Chris makes it his mission to win the one woman that got away.

Only he has a rival for her affections: former high school classmate Dusty Dinkleman (Klein), now a kind-hearted paramedic who plays the guitar and has written a song in Jamie's honour.

Just Friends follows Chris's disastrous efforts to woo Jamie, while fending off Samantha, who happens to be one of his many ex-flames and would dearly like him to stoke her fire.

The 90s prologue, featuring Reynolds in a fat suit, is too brief to give us any real insight into Chris's personality.

He's painted as a caricature so when we flash forward to 2005, we struggle to root for the now svelte Chris to win the girl, having no emotional investment in the character or his happiness.

Smart exudes a fresh-faced, girl next-door appeal but it's Faris who shoplifts every scene.

She is incredibly entertaining as the deranged socialite turned pin-up turned pop sensation, whose voracious sexual appetite is dwarfed only by her over-inflated sense of self-importance.

"You and me babe are gonna be the best artist-manager team since Jessica Simpson and her father!" she proudly tells Chris.

One of the comic set pieces the destruction of a Christmas light display merits a chuckle but on the whole, Just Friends is just average. 5/10 By Stephen Webb JUST FRIENDS Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Amy Smart, Anna Faris, Chris Klein 12A, 94mins

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