A Guy Thing Review
by Steve Rhodes (Steve DOT Rhodes AT InternetReviews DOT com)January 16th, 2003
A GUY THING
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 2003 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): ** 1/2
A GUY THING, by SNOW DAY's Chris Koch, is a pretty stupid comedy that has a much better cast than it deserves. The formula film begins with Becky (Julia Stiles, SAVE THE LAST DANCE) on her first day on the job as a Tiki girl for bachelor parties. After enduring a series of bad jokes -- the three rings of marriage are: the engagement ring, the wedding ring and the suffering -- soon to be ex-bachelor Paul (Jason Lee, ALMOST FAMOUS) drinks himself into oblivion. The next morning he awakens with -- you guessed it -- Becky in his bed. With Karen (Selma Blair, LEGALLY BLONDE), his fiancée, on the way over, he has just enough time to hide the panties that Becky left behind.
The lost panty scene, like most scenes in A GUY THING, is one that you've seen many times before. There are also ones of people climbing out of bathrooms in order to hide in trees and ones of Cheetos up the nose. Whether through accident or luck, the movie does discover a few fairly fresh sequences that are quite funny. The best of these are one involving a underwear bin at a discount store and another at a police line-up.
Most of the time, you'll find yourself wondering exactly how you're supposed to take A GUY THING. It's so clumsily directed that you begin to wonder if it is intended to be a parody of a romantic comedy. There are certainly no surprises. You know from the beginning that Paul will eventually realize that the rigid Karen is not for him. He belongs instead with the free-spirited Becky, who can't keep a job for more than a week, if that long. The whole movie would be grating if it weren't for the performances of the three leads. They try so hard that they actually do almost save it.
A GUY THING runs 1:41. It is rated PG-13 for "language, crude humor, some sexual content and drug references" and would be acceptable for kids around 11 and up.
The film opens nationwide in the United States today, Friday, January 17, 2003. In the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the AMC and the Century theaters.
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