Film Reviews

Just Friends

• Rating:
• Director: Roger Kumble.
• Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Amy Smart, Chris Klein, Anna Farris.
• Details: US, 96 mins, (PG).

Chris (Reynolds), a shy, obese high school teenager living in New Jersey in 1995, has a serious problem: he is madly in love with his best friend Jamie (Smart) - the girl every boy in school wants to date. Choosing to tell her his true feelings at Jamie's end-of-year house party, Chris's plans go awry when a jock gets hold of his love letter and reads it out in front of everybody. Humiliated, Chris leaves NJ that night vowing never to return. Ten years later, Chris is now a slimmed down stud of a record agent, with Samantha (Farris) - the world's new Britney Spears - on his books. Taking Samantha to a gig in Paris, the flight makes a hasty stopover in New Jersey and Chris decides to check out his old haunts. There he meets Jamie, and with his new found confidence, decides to woo her again - but his new persona does not come over at all well. Just Friends mixes smart in-jokes (riffing on Bruce Springsteen lyrics) with the ludicrous (Chris beating up little kids in an ice hockey game to impress Jamie with his competitiveness) to great effect. The cast bounce off each other well as the zippy, non-stop dialogue keeps the action going until the next set-up. Reynolds is on the money here, playing Chris like an understated Jim Carrey meets a suave Will Ferrell, but the show is almost stolen by Farris' send up of Britney. You may hate yourself for laughing at some of the gags but, as they come at a relentless speed, you'll have forgiven yourself by the time the next joke comes along.

Review by Gavin Burke