Review of:Just Friends (2005)
Director:Roger Kumble
Rating:PG-13 for sexual content including some dialogue.
Starring:Ryan Reynolds, Amy Smart, Anna Faris, Chris Klein, Ty Olsson
“Just Friends”. It’s the two words any single, available male doesn’t want to hear from a woman that he has interest in, and it is these two words that love-struck Chris (Ryan Reynolds) hears from the love of his life. On graduation day Chris is faced with a very public awakening to his feelings for his best friend, and one and only Jamie (Amy Smart). As he vows redemption we are left with the feeling that whatever hang up he has on her isn’t over.
Fast forward about ten years and we now meet Chris in a time in his life when everything is different. Instead of the overweight, introspective male he use to be we are introduced to a slim downed, playboy version of the same. He now has a high powered job with tons of money, but his life is still not fulfilled. It isn’t until a series of events lead him back home for the first time in ten years that he has a chance to rectify his past. With only a couple of days available to him in his home town he runs into the one woman he wishes things could have went different with from his past.
“Just Friends” is that type of film that will have you laughing from beginning to end. Ryan Reynolds ( Van Wilder) has a funny charm about himself, and from past films you know he has comedic timing. The story of Chris is one that many people face today. Changes to the outside don’t always mean that the inside is okay or that people will see you in a different light. Just Friends is more a film about the changes we make to accommodate other people’s perceptions than anything else. It does a good job keeping this moral lesson on the lighter side.
So during this holiday season mixed in between big “tent” releases, and films of dramatic importance rests this one. For a bit of unbridled holiday hilarity I chose this one. Enjoy.
