When I first heard about the cast for My Best Friend’s Girl (2008), I was so turned off that I didn’t even go to the theatres to see it, nor did I rent it when it first came out on DVD earlier this year.  It was my birthday yesterday and I needed a comedy but I couldn’t think of any that I hadn’t seen and I didn’t feel like going to the theater.  So, I browsed through the recently released DVDs at Blockbuster and decided on this one (the “unrated” version).

image: IMDb.com

The story follows Tank (Dane Cook) who faces the ultimate test of friendship when his best friend, Dustin (Jason Biggs) hires him to take his ex-girlfriend, Alexis (Kate Hudson) out on a horrible date.  Why would Dustin do that?  To make Alexis realize that he is much better than men like Tank.  Yeah, dumb idea… As you can predict, things get complicated when Tank begins to fall for Alexis but it gets downright horrifying when he’s invited to her sister’s wedding and gets recognized for taking the bride on the worst date of her life.  The lies begin to unravel and you’ll find yourself laughing as you cringe in your seat.

I love Dane Cook as a stand-up comedian and I did like Jason Biggs in the American Pie franchise but not as much in any of his other movies.  I am not a big fan of Kate Hudson’s with the exception of How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days and, even then, I think it was the result of a good plot rather than her acting skills.  So, I really wasn’t sure how the three of them were going to work out together.  In the end, I wonder if the director felt the same way because they really did not appear in too many scenes together (off-hand, I can only think of the three of them being in the same room twice).  I think that was the movie’s saving grace.  Alec Baldwin makes an appearance as Tank’s womanizing father and (no surprise there) he plays the role exceedingly well.  I wanted to punch him about two-thirds into the movie.

Watch the trailer for the theatrical version (the unrated is a little longer and, of course, a lot dirtier):

Image details: Premiere Of "Redbelt" At The 2008 Tribeca Film Festival served by picapp.com

David Mamet’s movies and plays come as close to a boxing match as written words can. His actors dance around each other, they throw verbal jabs, they’re constantly testing each other’s will, they slyly move in for the kill, they plot their actions well in advance, and eventually try for the win. His movies always have a winner and a loser. There is hard-hearted competition, there are feints, there is macho posturing, there is constant deception, and there is a concrete decision and result which itself somehow borders on ambiguity.

So it’s only natural that Mamet’s next movie Redbelt, which opens today, revolves around fighting, specifically mixed martial arts. It’s cast fittingly includes one of the 80’s most beloved and tortured boxers: Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini. There’s aways the sense that Boom Boom could have been a storied lightweight but his fateful 1982 match against Duk Koo Kim changed that. Read Ron Borges terrific ESPN retrospective if you were too young to remember what happened that night at Caesars Palace.

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