Just Friends

Directed by Roger Kumble, Just Friends follows Ryan Reynolds’ Chris Brander as he returns to his hometown years after leaving in humiliation – with the narrative detailing the character’s efforts at wooing the girl (Amy Smart’s Jamie) he had a crush on in high school. (It’s a scenario complicated by the presence of Anna Faris’ spoiled pop star and Chris Klein’s former nerd.) The appealing (albeit familiar) premise is employed to distressingly (and predominantly) lackluster effect by Kumble, as the filmmaker, working from Adam Davis’ screenplay, delivers a sluggish comedy that contains few elements designed to capture and sustain the viewer’s interest – with the arms-length atmosphere compounded by an ongoing emphasis on eye-rollingly broad instances of desperately unfunny jokes and gags. (And this is to say nothing of Reynolds’ bizarre, nails-on-a-chalkboard turn as the far-from-sympathetic protagonist.) There is, as such, never a point at which one is able to work up the slightest degree of interest in the characters’ continuing exploits, which ultimately does, in the end, cement Just Friends‘ place as a completely forgettable and mostly obnoxious romantic comedy that squanders a fairly impressive cast. (Only Julie Hagerty, cast as Chris’ oblivious mother, manages to make anything resembling a positive impact.)

*1/2 out of ****