If you really want to know what's wrong with Hollywood today, consider this turkey: an estimated $45 million was spent to make director Howard Deutsch's My Best Friend's Girl, which failed to recoup even half its cost in theaters. Dane Cook stars as a lout named Tank, a notorious underachiever who earns extra money as a professional romantic rebounder—i.e., someone who dates newly single girls and convinces them by virtue of his obnoxious behavior that their ex-boyfriends (who are paying Tank) weren't so bad after all. His best friend Dustin (Jason Biggs), who's having trouble “closing the deal” with bubbly Alexis (Kate Hudson), asks Tank to work his magic, but Alexis finds the bad boy more fascinating than the nice guy, and when Tank finally succumbs to her charms he risks breaking the heart of his best pal. Not surprisingly, this premise lends itself to situations calling for coarse language and vulgar behavior, two attributes in which the film fairly wallows. Although the thespian-impaired Cook is right at home with the material, the sleazy approach isn't a good fit for Hudson, who has mostly starred in conventional romantic comedies, and Biggs' lovable-schlemiel image takes a beating here, as his desperation comes across as downright unattractive. Not recommended. [Note: DVD extras include two audio commentaries (the first with costar Jason Biggs, writer Jordan Cahan, and producer Greg Lessans; the second by director Howard Deutch), 25 minutes of deleted/extended scenes, a “Making it in Beantown: Where it all Began” location featurette (9 min.), a nine-minute segment on “The Cast's Guide to Dating,” an eight-minute “A to Z: Professor Turner's Sexist Rating System” featurette, and trailers. Bottom line: a decent extras package for a lame comedy.] (E. Hulse)
My Best Friend's Girl
Lionsgate, 101 min., avail. in R or unrated versions, DVD: $29.99, Blu-ray: $39.99, Jan. 13 Volume 24, Issue 1
My Best Friend's Girl
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