Dane Cook tries his comedy chops yet again by headlining this romantic comedy after the disaster known as Good Luck Chuck. Suffering the fate of many comedians like Norm MacDonald, Dave Chappelle, Richard Pryor, John Leguizamo and more, he just doesn't have success in translating his success on the microphone to the big screen in a leading role. Usually comedians fare better as supporting/cameo roles; with George Carlin, Sarah Silverman, Leguizamo, Chappelle as examples. Even with his overrated comedy, one has to admit Cook is at his prime whenever he busts out the cruel factor. Dane Cook has the look of a man that can verbally tear you apart and watch you moan for emotional mercy.
This time, in My Best Friend's Girl, we can see the cruel side of Cook, a side we hadn't seen yet. Unfortunately, this movie fails again because Cook yet again tries the actual acting chops instead of pertaining to his humor. My Best Friend's Girl could have been a raunchy, edgy comedy that takes no prisoners. Instead, it treads on vulgar, then at the same time attempts to add heart. It's almost impossible to mix raunch with heartThere's Something About Mary, Dumb and Dumber and the 40-Year-Old Virgin are extremely rare examples. My Best Friend's Girl is not a rarity; it's the average run-of-the-mill mediocre romance flick that doesn't entertain often.
In this movie, we follow Tank (Dane Cook) as he tries to help out his friend (Jason Biggs) by delivering a bad time to his friend's ex (Kate Hudson)only to wind up falling for her. Things get complicated when Tank starts developing a heart and begins to question the morals of his high-paying side job. The story isn't original, but with original material, could have come off as a smart romantic comedy. Unfortunately, we receive moment after moment of expected crudeness with unexplainable, unimportant, unoriginal, and unfunny material. They say a lot of improvisation was in this movie, but besides Dane Cook's few quirky one-liners, there's not much hilarity there. The writing cast failed to bring anything to the table, and expected the frontman comedian to carry the load of garbage to quality.
The main selling point for me was Kate Hudson and Jason Biggs, two underrated pawns in the cruel world of Hollywood. Yet again, they are underused as most of the focus is on Dane Cook. Kate Hudson has very few moments to herself that doesn't involve the lead, which is a shame because if we give her room, she can deliver. Jason Biggs has almost no material to work with, as his character is about as predictable and pathetic as can be. It was so bad that Biggs representing kindness and the typical "nice guy" winds up looking like the unlikable buffoon in all this. Dane Cook is at his best when cruel comedy is attachedany other moment he fails like a blind tennis player competing against Pete Sampras. His antics while working were used up in the previews, and he didn't have many moments in the sinister spotlight. While this isn't as low or shady as Good Luck Chuck, he still has a long ways to go.
There's so much more wrong with this movie. Whether it's the repetitive shots of Boston, awful musical selections (with the exception of Johnny Cash), too many slow moments, terrible usage of a potentially good cameo, and refusal to end, My Best Friend's Girl has too much going against it to ever be deemed a mediocre movie. Within the muddle of patheticness lies potential for some social commentary concerning dating, relationships, nice guys, and jerks; but none of this is ever explored because we needed more footage of Dane Cook messing with naked women. Also, the workplace scenes of Cook working for an air conditioner company could have resulted in Office Space-like quality humor, but is also underused and quickly forgotten.
Bottom Line: This movie is a mess, when it could have been something grand, something different, and finally something that Dane Cook can successfully sink his teeth into. Unfortunately, none of this happens and we have Cook leading the way towards a brick wall of fail along with Kate Hudson, Jason Biggs, and even the master Alec Baldwin. Many good ideas are quickly tossed around like a messy tossed salad, and only the bad parts remained in the bowl. Highly recommend to skip; as this may even disappoint the biggest of Dane Cook fanssince unlike his humor on the mic, relies on only one brand: vulgarity. He needs a better supporting writing staff, or figure out how to be in a film with people that can master improvisation and directing it; most notably the Judd Apatow group. Someone stop Cook, he's just embarrassing himself.
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