It's one of those eternal quandaries Hollywood revolves around: Everyone likes a good, funny dirty movie — but what's the perfect ratio of funny-to-dirty that equals good? Hit that combination perfectly and you get The Forty-Year-Old Virgin or Superbad; get the mix wrong and you're sitting through The Heartbreak Kid or Good Luck Chuck. My Best Friend's Girl, starring Dane Cook, Jason Biggs and Kate Hudson, manages to get the dirty part of the equation consistently and well — I'd like to quote some of the movie's dialogue to you, but outside of character names and articles like "and," "the" and "of," I don't think I can. Does that mean it gets to good?
I'm not sure, but I can tell you, somewhat abashedly, that My Best Friend's Girl was a lot further away from bad than I though it was going to be. And maybe I'm weak, or easily amused, but there are a few laughs in My Best Friend's Girl. They're not necessarily in the plot, which involves bad-boy Cook being hired by nice-guy sad-sack Biggs to make his recent romance Kate Hudson realize that Biggs is far better than he seems. The film also establishes, early on, that this isn't the first time Cook's done this to help a guy out; in fact, it's a big part-time moneymaker for him. What makes this time different is that Biggs and Cook are cousins and roommates — and that Cook and Hudson's supposed-to-be-a-disaster-date actually turns into something kind of, sort of, like a romance.
And so the player becomes the played; the good girl finds the man under the bad boy; love grows out of strange soil; a masquerade becomes the thing it was meant to counterfeit, and then our pretender must apologize; you could make My Best Friend's Girl out of the bits left behind in the spare parts bin from the garage where every romantic comedy in the past ten years has been assembled. But Cook has, as ever, a squirrelly energy to his profane ramblings; Hudson is perfectly acceptable as the girl; there are nicely-spun supporting moments from Alec Baldwin as Cook's womanizing father and Lizzy Caplan as Hudson's wild, wacky hipster roommate. There are some great, shameful sight gags — including the best blasphemous frequent-purchaser rewards-card joke imaginable — and, more interestingly, My Best Friend's Girl isn't afraid to go to some grim, bleak places you wouldn't expect as Cook tries to derail happiness out of his sense of self-loathing. My Best Friend's Girl goes over the top a lot, but it also at least tries to come back to character when it returns.
Director Howard Deutch is best known for gentler romances like Pretty in Pink and softer comedies like Grumpier Old Men, and parts of My Best Friend's Girl feel conspicuously like Deutsch is trying too hard to fit in with the younger crowd of new comedy film makers, like watching your uncle put his hip out trying to dance to Kanye West. The other thing is that I may very well be judging My Best Friend's Girl on a curve that's been rendered much steeper — and much lower — by Cook's previous romantic comedy, Good Luck Chuck, because no matter how broad or coarse or crude My Best Friend's Girl gets, it looks subtle, sensitive and charming in comparison to the gross-out, woman-hating idiocy of Good Luck Chuck. The DVD's commentary from director Deutsch actually explains, in detail, how much intelligence and decision-making goes into making a dumb comedy in our modern age; Deutsch actually refers to My Best Friend's Girl as a 'shock romantic comedy"; I wasn't aware that was a genre now, but I guess it is, and I guess My Best Friend's Girl could be a worse example of one.
Other DVD extras include commentary from Biggs alongside writer Jordan Cahan and producer Greg Lessans, plus some making-of material, deleted and extended scenes and a few throwaway gag bits that actually get a few laughs; Hearing Alec Baldwin discuss playing " … the most disgusting, sexually selfish guy I've seen in a film in a long time …" is good for a few chuckles. If I'd paid movie-theater prices to see My Best Friend's Girl, I'd probably have rioted, but at home — where no one could see me laughing at some of the stupider comedy bits — it has a few laughs in it. My Best Friend's Girl is vulgar but vibrant; it may be ugly, but there are at least a few moments when it seems alive.
Posted on January 27, 2009 at 11:40 pm
Disappointed, I agree the language was too much. It had it’s cute and funny parts but would only rate it one and a half stars.
Can’t stand Alec Baldwin.
Posted on January 28, 2009 at 1:44 am
It was boring, unfunny, and overboard lewd. I turned it off after 10-15 minutes when it was going nowhere to entertain me.
Posted on January 28, 2009 at 10:48 am
Reading the comments, I guess only girls (with crushes) find Dane Cook to be funny. He bores me to tears but I guess Hollywood is going to keep pushing him on us for the next 20 years, because of these girls with their Entertainment Tonight induced crushes.
Posted on January 28, 2009 at 7:17 pm
This movie is for young guys that thing this stuff is funny! I thought it was disgusting! Not what I expected Kate to be in. I’ve seen way better.
Posted on January 28, 2009 at 7:31 pm
would have been better, if they got rid of some of the really foul language/behavior. that way we could watch it over and over, even if the kids were home. too bad. one less movie to add to our collection.
Posted on January 28, 2009 at 11:06 pm
I have not seen the movie yet however, I was just taking a look to see what others thought of it to see if i might be interested before watching. And after reading the posted comments i must make one of my own. If you are complaining because of the raunchy humor in the movie you’re likely an idiot because any person, just as i am now, can look at the previews, ratings, and comments of any movie they wish to see. And for that reason you have no right to say the movie wasn’t good because the humor was to raunchy for liking. Pay attention and open your eyes plus use your brain, read a little and quickly you’ll discover that this movie contains raunchy material before you even see the movie. What a concept huh?? Besides if you have half a brain cell in your less than par head you’ll already know that this is exactly how all of Dane Cook’s movies are.
Posted on October 21, 2009 at 10:44 am
It was okay. Nothing to write home about.