Just Friends (2005)reviewed by Benn "Where's the Humanity?" Farrell
"Just Friends" is about Chris, played by Ryan Reynolds (Waiting), who falls for his high school friends Jamie, played by Amy Smart (Outside Providence), but is permanently sucked into the "friend zone" when he tells her his true feelings for her. Years later, Chris is a hot shot music industry executive looking to sign the latest Brittany Spears wannabe, a sexy knock-off named Samantha, played by Anna Farris (Scary Movie). On a trip to Paris, Chris and Samantha are sidetracked and Chris finds himself back home in New Jersey. While at home, he runs into his old friends, including Jamie, and given his new appearance and career, he decides to heal his growing pains of rejection by trying to sleep with Jamie before he leaves. The picture's supporting cast was SO outlandish and funny, there was never a reason to laugh every other minute. Farris leads this group of character hilarity and continues to show her comedic range as Samantha. Julie Haggerty (Airplane) returns to the screen as Chris' mother and her performance was not only hilarious and somewhat real, it was almost scary. The play between Reynolds and Chris Marquette, playing Chris' brother, was simply a riot. The two had a great brothers-who-haven't-seen-each-other-in-years chemistry going and produced laughs every time they were together. Chris Klein (American Pie) as Dusty was also a hoot. Reynolds and Smart lacked chemistry as a leading couple. I never cared for the two of them to get together one way or another. Smart is always bright and thoughtful, and Reynolds had a couple of very good moments. The only area where the film lacked was its message. The final message was "just be yourself, and be honest with your feelings," which we've seen time and again recently. At first, the picture was formulating a message about the advantages and disadvantages of friends becoming romantic, a theme I've not only written about a few times myself, but I've lived it intimately. It's a theme we don't see very often in movies, and I think the picture may have been better to make a statement about THAT, rather than the done-before message it actually had. Director Roger Kumble (Cruel Intentions, The Sweetest Thing) did fairly well with SO much physical comedy. Overall, I really thought the picture was hilarious and a little acceptably overdone. It doesn't even resort to d**k and fart jokes, but rather keeps the physical comedy and character performances as its greatest strength. Although, it's not a Christmas movie persay, this release doesn't hurt the holiday season. Benn - Where's the Humanity?
This was very funny and chuck full of physical comedy, but the "character" performances for the picture's supporting cast made the movie.