just friendly humour (Just Friends (DVD))

Member Name: stevepeto

Product:	Just Friends (DVD)
Date:	28/07/08 (245 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: humerous

Disadvantages: it's all been done before

Movie:
Chris Brander (Ryan Reynolds) is a fat guy who happens to be best friends with his gorgeous classmate Jamie Palamino (Amy Smart). They do almost everything together and now Chris wants to take it that one step further and have Jamie as his girl, so he writes down his feelings in their graduation year book ready to give to her. However Chris is in Jamie's "friend zone" and so she doesn't ever look at him in that way. On top of this the night he gives her the yearbook with the message in it, he is brutally teased by most of the school and flees New Jersey.

Fast forward 10 years and Chris is a fit, slim, womanising music executive living in LA, his boss sends him to woo a new client, Samantha James (Anna Faris) who is an insane singer who thinks she is much better than she really is. Chris's job is to whisk Samantha off to Paris but after an in-flight accident they set down, yep you guessed it, back in New Jersey where Chris is forced to "go home". This is where he meets up with everyone that he has not seen in 10 years and predictably is where the fun begins as his feelings for Jamie come flooding back and tries to win the girl again.

I must admit that this is not a film I would have chosen myself. It comes under my category of "girly film" and indeed as my daughter and my girlfriend settled into the sofa with chocolate and cola it looked liked my initial thoughts were correct. But I found that I quickly warmed to the film and by the time the credits were rolling I can honestly say that it is well worth a watch. The gags are funny, and the story flows along quite nicely. If I had to say anything negative about the film it would be that it is quite predictable and doesn't really push the bounds of this genre, but then was it ever going to?

Although not an original film they have steered away from the general vulgar humour that movies seem to employ these days, there isn't any nudity or string of F-Words thrown together in order to get cheap laughs.

Directed by Roger Kumble, the guy that brought us the celebrated Cruel Intentions and the terrible sweetest thing I am sure that people who notice these things were wondering what way this film was going to go, personally I think he hit just the right note, his scriptwriters have provided him with a good story with isn't overloaded with stupid gags and it all has a "real" feeling to it in that you could actually imagine this happening.

Presentation:
Brought to us in Widescreen 1.85:1 Anamorphic the picture is pretty good. It's not going to win awards but the colours were bright and I could not detect any blooming or artefacts at all. Sound wise we have an acceptable 5.1 Dolby Digital track which was clear at all times although not much use in the way of the rear.

Extras:
A fair number of bonus features on this disk above and beyond the obligatory trailer.

Jamie Smiles: Music Video
From the song in the movie the team got together to make a music video, quite good fun seeing them all get in on the act here.

Making Of: A making of that actually gives quite an in-depth look at the making of the film. Split up into 6 sections. The Transformation, A Directors Guide to Comedy, Developing Just Friends, The Re-shoots, it's Friggin Cold and A Writers journey it explores different aspects of the film in a fair amount of detail.

Anna Faris Recording:
A short extra showing Samantha James wailing into the microphone.

Deleted Scenes:
Contains five deleted scenes and an alternate ending. In fact the ending was supposed to be the ending in the film, but they swapped it out for another ending which in my opinion was the better move.

Bloopers Reel: Cock-ups and the like from the film.

Stuff you might like: Not sure why this was on here.

Overall:
A nice (but predictable) film that explores friendships at all levels. Along with some crazy moments and good laughs without being vulgar, recommended.

Summary: see review for an overall opinion