My Best Friend's Girl (R)

Inane, raunchy romantic comedy inspires no love.

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Movie details

Studio: Lions Gate Entertainment
Directed By: Howard Deutch
Cast: Jason Biggs, Kate Hudson, Dane Cook
Running Time: 103 minutes
Release Date: 09/19/2008
Genre: Comedy
MPAA Rating: R
MPAA Explanation: strong language and sexual content throughout, including graphic dialogue and some nudity.

Parents need to know

Parents need to know that this "hard R" comedy -- which may attract teen fans of star Dane Cook -- is stupid from the get-go and doesn't improve much as it goes along. It tries to earn laughs with coarse, gross-out humor, but not the genius kind masking a heartfelt message, a la Judd Apatow. There's partial nudity (breasts and butt) and non-stop sexual references, plus plenty of swearing (including "f--k"), drinking, demeaning sexist jokes, and more.

Families can talk about the "raunchy comedy" trend. Why are sex- and swearing-filled movies so popular? Is this movie as successful as its hard-R predecessors, or does it fall flat? Why? Parents, ask your teens what parts of the movie they found offensive. Why was that the case? Did any of it seem romantic? Why or why not? Families can also discuss the movie's perspective on women. Are they really so gullible that they'd fall for such an over-the-top scam like Tank's? Is Dustin really unattractive to women just because he's nice? Why would Alexis be attracted to Tank?

Message
Violence
Sex
Language

Message

Social Behavior:

Lots of jokes made at the expense of women (some are so sexist as to be utterly contemptuous) and occasionally men. Stereotypes are propagated; some characters cheat, lie, and deceive but are magically forgiven because they're sexually appealing. Bad behavior is depicted as worthy of being rewarded and niceness as being weak. Some positive depictions of friendships.

Consumerism:

Titles of porn DVDs are clearly visible; Marlboro cigarettes; Pontiac.

Drugs/Alcohol/Tobacco:

Lots of drinking, sometimes to excess and fueling more-than-typical idiocy. Some smoking; a joke about cocaine.

Violence

Two men fight over a woman; couples yell, scream at, and insult each other.

Sex

Strippers bare their breasts while doing lap and pole dances; couples straddle each other while having sex, though the camera shows them with their bottoms on; a naked backside is flashed briefly; passionate kissing; lots of crass jokes about copulation and other sexual acts, some in detail; a father uses his son as his wingman while picking up women at bars and then makes fun of him for falling in love; porn DVDs are strewn about, their titles and cover art visible; sex toys are displayed.

Language

Frequent use of strong language, including "f--k," "p---y," "a--hole," "s--t," and "bitch."

Common Sense says

What's the story?

Reviewed by S. Jhoanna Robledo

Tank (Dane Cook) is a customer service agent by day and a professional jerk by night. Guys hire him to date their exes and act like such a pig that the women practically beg the guys to reconcile. His roommate and best buddy, Dustin (Jason Biggs), is the exact opposite: sweet, supportive, and utterly without guile. In fact, apart from an occasional porn habit, he's Mr. Right. But to Alexis (Kate Hudson), a colleague Dustin is head over heels for, he's simply Mr. Not Right Now. When he professes love and she's scared off, Dustin hires Tank to work his "magic." Trouble is, Alexis turns out working her magic on Tank. And before you can say predictable, the man who's never fallen in love does -- to disastrous results.

Is it any good?

Here's the mystery: What are talents like Hudson (Almost Famous seems so long ago these days) and Biggs (who, post-American Pie, seemed headed for a stellar, Ben Stiller-type career) doing in this movie? Crass when it needn't be, romantic when it doesn't ring true, and hatefully sexist for much of the time, MY BEST FRIEND'S GIRL presumes that women are still here to save despicable men from fates worse than their deeds and that men are, with few exceptions, cads and idiots who need rescuing.

Not that movies have never been made on such premises before -- but for them to work, the writing has to be sharp, the storytelling superb, and the characters believable. It's not atypical for frogs to turn into princes in romantic comedies, but this one takes that conceit too far. (How different might the movie have been had the story been told with Dustin as the hero rather than the sidekick?) Cook does such a great job playing the near-nastiest man alive that it's hard to understand how he's all appealing. How can we believe that a man who would stoop so low as to proposition his girlfriend's mother would be forgiven? Or that said girlfriend, who's supposed to be smart, would actually be taken in by him in the first place? My Best Friend's Girl doesn't just require mere suspension of disbelief, it demands lunacy.