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When I saw the previews for this movie, my feelings were just slightly above indifferent. It looked like another mildly-funny movie that I’d catch at the local second-run theater for a buck—as long as there wasn’t anything better showing at the same time. So when I finally saw it (at the second-run theater, for a buck), I went in with pretty low expectations—and I was in for a big surprise….
Chris Brander (Ryan Reynolds) was a big fat loser in high school. And he was madly in love his best friend, Jamie Palamino (Amy Smart), the gorgeous cheerleader who had all the guys fighting for her attention. But Jamie kept him in The Friend Zone.
As soon as Chris got out of high school, he left New Jersey and never looked back. Now, ten years later, he’s living in LA. He’s thin and athletic and successful, and he can get any girl he wants.
Just before Christmas, Chris is sent by his boss on an important mission to win up-and-coming pop star Samantha James (Anna Faris) as a new client. Samantha is convinced that Chris, a former fling, has come back because he missed her, and she arranges for the two of them to fly to Paris to spend the holidays with her family. On the way to Paris, they end up unexpectedly delayed—in New Jersey. There, Chris runs into Jamie, who hasn’t changed a bit—and he decides that he’s finally got a chance with her. There are only two people standing in his way: Samantha and Dusty Dinkleman (Chris Klein), another former high school loser who’s trying to make the moves on Jamie. To make matters worse, whenever Chris and Jamie are together, nothing goes as planned—and he fears that he might once again find himself in The Friend Zone.
Just Friends is much better than I expected it to be. The laughs start right from the first shot of fat, high-school Chris lip-syncing to All-4-One’s “I Swear”—and they’re pretty much constant through the whole movie. Faris manages to channel Ashlee Simpson in a way that makes her over-the-top and obnoxious yet absolutely hilarious. Reynolds is fantastic once again (just as he was in Waiting...). I look forward to seeing him in more prominent roles in the future. He deserves it. And Smart is perfectly cast as the sweet, down-to-earth girl caught in the middle of the insanity.
Just Friends is just plain funny. If you’re looking for a good laugh, you’ll have no problem finding it here.
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