Just Friends

This might be a trend in the near future, me just finding seemingly random movies playing and watching them so I can crank out a review for your all. Hopefully they're good... from here on out.

I saw Just Friends a long time ago. I wasn't allowed to watch all of it because of the crude language and sexual content because I was quite young. To me, this movie seemed more like a movie my sisters would watch because, hey! Ryan Reynolds is hot.

And let's talk about that. Ryan Reynolds, when did he become a thing? According to his wikipedia page, Reynolds was involved with Canadian movies and TV and starred mainly in Van Wilder, a film I never actually saw. To me, this was always my first exposure to Ryan Reynolds and honestly... its a rocky start.

Just Friends stars Reynolds as Chris Brander, an unpopular fat kid who is graduating high school. He's of course friends with the most popular girl in school, Jamie Palamino (played by Amy Smart) she sees him like a brother because they're such good friends. He of course is in love with her and wants to be more than friends but she never really gives him that option.

After an embarrassing incident with his graduate class, he leaves home and becomes an agent in charge of music artists. He loses a shit load of weight and becomes the Ryan Reynolds we all know. Honestly, he's a little bit of a douche. He claims to know all about relationships, letting everyone know what exactly he's gone through as he knows all about the friend zone.

One of the clients he has is an obnoxious talentless woman he went on a date with (played by Anna Faris). They have plans to go to Paris so he can sign her onto his music industry but their plans change when their plane is grounded in New Jersey, the very city Chris is from.

He returns home to figure out that Jamie is living in their home town. Chris decides that its now time to try and get with her like he always wanted to.

Chris of course runs into some difficulties as Jamie still kind of sees him as a friend. Furthermore, she's not totally into him and his Los Angeles douchbagery.

Furthermore, Chris has some competition in another guy who wants to win over Jamie's heart. (played by Chris Klein). All the while he's trying to manage Anna Faris's character Samantha James, ward off the antics of his brother (played by Christopher Marquette), and just dealing with not being in his comfortable Los Angeles lifestyle anymore.

There's a couple things about this movie worth discussing. The fact of the matter is, this isn't your typical romantic comedy. Its kind of a raunchy comedy.

And let's talk about Ryan Reynolds as a comedic actor. I mean, I've seen movies where he's been a decently funny guy. But in this movie he's just...

Weird...

I mean Ryan Reynolds in a fat suit is kind of weird by itself because... my god, its weird. But he's got this weird Pedo voice going on that I guess was funny for a moment, but quickly became the same thing over and over again. It was really kind of creepy and just because Reynolds makes his eyes really big, does not mean he's funny. 

Also Reynolds is not exactly at his peak yet, even when he's suppose to look attractive, he's still got those kind of pedo eyes that freak me out a little. 

Furthermore, the romance, while comedic in nature and not suppose to necessarily make a whole lot

of sense, doesn't make sense a lot of the times. Like Chris comes back and he assumes that Jamie would like a guy who is confident and kind of douchey, the same kind of guy Chris has become. And then he changes his strategy based on what he sees from his interactions with Jamie. And Jamie herself is confusing because I wasn't totally clear of when her feelings towards Chris changed until the point where they're in bed with one another and she wants him to make a move. I kind of saw that coming out of no where.

The relationship is so ridiculous because its trying to be this weird, kind of gross out, kind of charming comedy, that I can no longer belief it as a believable relationship. And finally, I'm not totally sold on Ryan Reynolds and Amy Smart. Nuff said.

And then you have Anna Faris

Dear... god...

And I get it, Faris is suppose to be this sex symbol who is really obnoxious, and she was funny to begin with, but I think they eventually ran out of options for her and had to just figure out ways to get rid of her so she wasn't bothering the main story. And then even when she does, it has absolutely no effect on the way Jamie feels about Chris. There's no question of who the hell this crazy woman is, nope, the next scene Jamie wants to get with Chris.

Overall, Just Friends is a funny movie... sort of. I'm not gonna lie and say I didn't have ANY fun with it. I mean even a man in jail can smile a little bit. But there was too much in this movie that kind of made me uncomfortable and was just weird.

Its not the worst movie ever made but it definitely has its problems and for me personally, gave me a headache while watching. I think Ryan Reynolds has come a long way since this movie but this one is definitely not one of his best.

But what do you think? Have you seen Just Friends? What did you think? Comment and Discuss below! You can also follow me on Twitter @cmhaugen24  to get updates on movie news and reviews. You can also shoot me your thoughts on Twitter and and give me some requests for future reviews.

I'll leave you with this. While I realize I'm not exactly the most impressed with Ryan Reynold's filmography, there is a movie that I want to see him him and Sir Ben Kingsley, its called Self/Less. Here's the trailer. Enjoy!