Girl Uninterrupted (Happily)

Our subject for today is a frequently charming, sometimes moving, explosively funny sex comedy, namely My Best Friend’s Girl, which I was fortunate enough to see on the big screen and which, happily, I now own on DVD. If there is any way at all that you can see it, you should. It is really and truly worthy of your effort.   

Tank Turner (Dane Cook) has a sideline–he regularly works in some kind of complaint department–as what might be called a professional asshole. He makes on-the-side money dating women who have dumped his friends and being, well, an asshole. We see him in action with this one blonde she-hottie. That is, we see, courtesy of the she-babe’s recollections, flashbacks of him in action, namely the ten reasons why, she asserts, their date went so poorly (Among other things: Tank insisted on playing a particularly vulgar rap song very loudly while he and his date were in his car; while they were in that car, Tank had an equally loud [and feigned] arguement with an ex-girlfriend; and, while he and that date were in this Mexican-themed restaurant, Tank was a complete and aggressive pig during their meal). Accordingly, the chick makes it abudantly clear that she wants absolutely nothing more to do with Tank (Tank: “I’ll call you later.” Date, angrily: “And I’ll call the cops, you asshole!” and slams the door on him).   

We next see Tank in a bar, successfully making the moves upon a reddish-brownette she-babe, with the two of them winding up in Tank’s bed. Then, there is the appearance of Tank’s roommate, Dustin (Jason Biggs), and we find out that he too is having difficulties with his girlfriend. As the roommates and Tank’s latest conquest walk down the street, Tank freely gives his roomie chick-handling tips (Tank to conquest: “What’s the greatest compliment I’ve ever given you?” Conquest: “That you liked my [lovemaking] technique”). The three of them soon part, with Tank’s she-babe going to her job, and Tank assuring Dustin that he’ll give him chick-snaring advice in the future.   

Afterward we meet (we soon learn) Dustin’s paramour, Alexis (Kate Hudson, whose character does not, as far as we know, have a specific job, thus giving her, to me, an air of mystery and independence that is quite enticing), who is fixing a drink in her blender and, while subsequently dressing, gleefully informs her roommate: “I’m a serial monogamist!” After a while, we see Dustin and Alexis eating together in a restaurant, with Dusting urging that the two take “the next step” in their relationship and Alexis resisting (”Sex is not ‘a step.’ Being exclusive is ‘a step.’ Moving in together is ‘a step.’”). The two wind up going on another date, with Alexis coming to the conclusion that: “We should go back to being where we were: as friends.” Dustin is at first nonplussed, but, clearly realizing that he really has no choice, agrees. There is then a quick, and very funny, montage of Dustin showering upon Alexis best-friend gestures–leaving her donuts, making faces out of those donuts, et al–in an attempt to get her to warm up to him. Finally, in desperation, he turns to Tank and fervently urges him to make his professional-asshole moves on Alexis. Tank, at first, is enthused by the request (”If I do this…she’ll lose so much shit, her shit container will have amnesia”) and, eventually, Tank commits to being Alexis’s asshole.   

Thereupon follows a sequence where Tank and Alexis “meet cute”–he runs up to her while she’s jogging in the park and falls down, pretending to be out of breath, and she, being ever-compassionate, leans over him in order to find out whether or not he’s all right–then, after some manuevering, they go out on a date. However, to Tank’s great surprise, she turns out to be as loony (on the surface) as he is. When he picks her up, she is, to employ a military expression, pissy-drunk, and, when he plays one of his especially vulgar rap numbers, she is not only totally thrilled but actually sings along. Then, when he takes her to a strip club, it turns out that she’ s as turned on by the strippers as he is. More machinations follow, and the film ends with Tank and Alexis, after some verbal sparring in another restaurant, hooking up for good.  

Truly, My Best Friend’s Girl is a full-on treat. Director Howard Deutch keeps the action moving briskly, and Jordan Cahan’s script is laden with loads of funny and sprightly dialogue. Their actors serve them both excellently. Dane Cook shines in the kind of average-guy-as-rascal role he does so well (Good Luck Chuck, Employee Of The Month). Kate Hudson is just as funny and charming here as she was in that pair of films she did with bongomeister/Hollywood hunk/Lance Armstrong buddy Matthew McConaughey (How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days, Fool’s Gold). Alec Baldwin, in the relatively small role of Tank’s father, is ingratiatingly randy–his character teaches women’s studies, when, in reality, he’s a veteran ass-chaser who doesn’t, and never did, give the slightest crap about women’s issues–and ingratiatingly wise. And Jason Biggs establishes once again, as he has in his many, many filmic comedies, that he’s a first-rate farceur.   

 Is My Best Friend’s Girl a “quality” picture? Not at all. If the Sundance crowd or the Cannes crowd ever saw it, it would likely be the subject of derision up until the wee hours of the morning. And Stanley Kauffmann and John Simon–and, for that matter, David Denby–would no doubt rip it apart the minute they got settled in front of their computers (Denby probably already has). However, for those of us looking for a funny, well-made sex comedy filled with gorgeous, likable folks interacting with each other and that makes no pretense of being anything else, My Best Friend’s Girl is precisely what the doctor ordered.    Duane Brooks    www.yahoo.com