My Best Friend's Girl Blu-ray offers solid video and audio in this fan-pleasing Blu-ray release
Smart, beautiful and headstrong, Alexis is the girl of Dustin's dreams. But after only five weeks of dating, the
love-struck Dustin is coming on so strong that Alexis is forced to slow things down—permanently. Devastated
and desperate to get her back, Dustin turns to his best friend, Tank, the rebound specialist. A master at seducing
—and offending—women, Tank gets hired by freshly dumped guys to take their ex-girlfriends out on the worst
date of their lives—an experience so horrible it sends them running gratefully back to their beaus. But when
Tank works his magic on Alexis, he ends up meeting the challenge of a lifetime. Alexis is the first girl who
knows how to call his bluff, and Tank soon finds himself torn between his loyalty to Dustin and a strange new
attraction to his best friend's girl.
Dane Cook seems to have found himself quite the niche with Lionsgate. The actor appeared in
Waiting..., played a
character in Employee of the
Month
that goes from slacker to hard worker only to impress a new employee, portrayed an object of
female desire in Good Luck Chuck,
and
now, in My Best Friend's Girl, he stars as Tank, a man who's job involves taking girls on
the
worst dates imaginable. The themes seem similar in his recent trio of "ladies man"
films; he portrays a wanderer of sorts, unable to settle down, using women for a challenge,
for pleasure, or for money, and always, at first, shows a disinterest in their feelings. He
then finally comes to realize that there is more to a relationship than what goes on behind closed
doors, decides he may have finally met the right girl, and now must convince her, and himself, that he
can change, that he's worthy of their affections and they of his, all with generally comic results.
My Best Friend's Girl fully embraces the Cook formula, but does so with mostly ho-hum
enthusiasm and mixed, at best, results. A laugh here, a decent visual gag there, keep the viewer
watching, but this is hardly the next great Comedy classic.
My Mom's boyfriend is Kurt Russell and he can beat up your mom's boyfriend!
Tank (Cook) has earned a reputation with the ladies, a reputation likely to get him slapped and
cursed out rather than a kiss goodnight. It just so happens that being a rude and uncouth date
is also his job. Tank is hired to show girls such a bad time that they will come to realize how good
they had it with their previous boyfriends. Tank's friend Dustin (Jason
Biggs, Eight Below) wants
nothing more than to take his platonic relationship with Alexis (Kate Hudson, Fool's Gold) to the
next level. Unfortunately, she sees him as "Mr. Right, just not Mr. Right now." Enter Tank, who
reluctantly takes on a job for a friend he considers family. Obvious advances and a first date to a
strip club don't phase Alexis, and she and Tank develop an attraction for one another that
becomes too much to resist. Tank finds himself in the difficult position of sleeping with his best
friend's girl, a girl who just might be falling in love with the wrong man.
Fans of vulgar humor will find a new favorite in My Best Friend's Girl.
All others proceed with caution, because this is one of the foulest movies around.
My
Best Friend's Girl, then, is destined to be a love-it-or-hate it sort of movie. Still, even to
those
who fall into the "hate it" category, there are a few things to enjoy about the experience that
make it tolerable. As mentioned above, Dane Cook has found a niche, and embraced it. He's
particularly good in this role, and has the delivery, the look, and the mannerisms down pat. He's
crude, annoying, and unlikeable, but then again, that's the character he plays. What works so
well is
the way he is able to deadpan much of the delivery, for his "job" requires just that: to play the
most despicable man around, but with a straight face and a serious tone that turns his antics
from bad
jokes to seriously demented thought processes. He sells the character, and the character's
routine,
very well, and even if the character, dialogue, and visuals aren't to all audience's liking, there is
no
denying that Cook is very good at what he does in this film. The remainder of the cast is
deliciously devious, too. Jason Biggs and Kate Hudson find the right pitch for their characters, but
veteran Alec Baldwin (Suburban Girl)
delivers one of the most unexpected, lewd, and terribly funny
performances in memory as Tank's womanizing father. A Women's Studies professor by day and
a philanderer by night, his dialogue is often shocking, crude, and mostly funny, particularly in the
context of the dichotomy he represents.
My Best Friend's Girl, then, is clearly not some happy-go-lucky Romantic Comedy,
though several aspects of the film do feel like one. It does poke around in that genre, sometimes trying to play like one, particularly in its
most crucial dramatic scenes that leave the comedy behind, albeit briefly, and, a few times,
taking aim at the genre and scoring a direct hit. Tank sets out to "meet" Alexis in the
most dimwitted, accidental, and implausible way possible, straight out of a Romantic Comedy, as
it is his belief that all woman crave that dreamy, funny, chance encounter that can be attributed
to nothing other than fate. Tank's staged first encounter with Alexis will delight anyone who has watched their share of
Romantic
Comedies in the past, though more traditional fans of that genre may want to skip directly to the
scene and cut out the rest of the movie. It's the film's most lighthearted moment, and arguably its
funniest. Also in the tradition of the Romantic Comedy, My
Best Friend's Girl is completely predictable. The arc and the conclusion come as no surprise
at all. The film relies on the journey, the gags along the way, to make up for this, and for those
who enjoy the sort of humor found in the movie, My Best Friend's Girl will be a rewarding
experience, predictability and all.
Lionsgate delivers My Best Friend's Girl to Blu-ray in a 1080p, 1.78:1-framed transfer.
Two factors immediately come to attention with this transfer: the grain and flesh tones. Flesh
tones push towards the red, and many of the actors appear to
have a bad sunburn. Colors appear just a bit overblown. The film is very colorful, though the entire
spectrum, like the flesh tones, seems to have a red tint to it, lending a warm feel to the picture.
Black levels are also hit-or-miss, sometimes appearing a bit too bright and at other times showing
off a nice, true, deep, and dark black. A heavy amount of grain is visible throughout the film as
well. Unfortunately, fine detail sometimes lacks; there are no cases of outright poor textures or
backgrounds, but the transfer isn't always razor-sharp, either. It is also a little soft here and there.
Bright outdoor scenes fare a little better than the drab, interior shots, of which there are several.
Fine detail fluctuates significantly between sequences, sometimes showing fine resolution, at others
lacking in overall depth and breadth. Nevertheless, most of these issues seem inherent to the
original intent of the film. It's not a terrible transfer at all, it just won't be one that won't ever serve as demo
material.
My Best Friend's Girl features a full-fledged DTS-HD MA 7.1 lossless soundtrack. As a
comedy, not much is expected of the accompanying soundtrack, 7.1 channels of lossless goodness
or not, but My Best Friend's Girl manages to impress, even tossing in a few scenes that will
put a smile on the audiophile's face. In no way is this a reference track, but it suits the material
very well. The track creates a nice environment in many scenes, seagulls heard here and there
around the stage in chapter six during an outdoor cafe scene, for example. Music is the track's
strong suit, pouring out from every speaker with good clarity and definition. Bass is solid, but never
very deep; it won't rattles the windows, but has a decent presence. The track does a sufficient job of creating a sense of
envelopment; a rainstorm in chapter eight sounds rather good, but most of the rain is focused up
front, with ambient support, like claps of thunder, heard in the back channels. Dialogue
reproduction is excellent when not drowned out by loud music and bass, which happens on several
occasions. Lionsgate once again delivers what audiences crave in the audio department, and this
soundtrack generally doesn't disappoint.
Lionsgate presents My Best Friend's Girl on Blu-ray with a long list of special features,
though most of them are fluff rather than substantive. The
film is available in both its theatrical and unrated editions. First up are two commentary tracks, the first of which features director Howard Deutch. The track is generally bland as the director discusses
how to sell such a rude character, shooting in various locales, pointing out some of the improvs in
the film, what remained from the script and what changed,
stories
from the set, the assemblage of several scenes, and accolades for his cast. Track number two
features actor Jason Biggs, writer Jordan Cahan, and producer Greg Lessans. Compared to the
director's track, this is far more lively and engaging, aided tremendously by having more than
one
person in the booth. It's still informative, but not as dry and focused as the director offering.
Fans
will likely enjoy this one more than the first.
Making it in Beantown: Where it all Began (1080p, 9:23) is a piece devoted to examining
Dane Cook's Boston roots and some of the shooting locations around town. The Cast's Guide
to Dating (1080p, 8:35) is a fluff piece featuring members of the cast discussing their
thoughts on the dating process. A to Z: Professor Turner's Sexist Rating System (1080p,
7:57) features star Alec Baldwin discussing his role in the film and delving into the specifics of his
rating system. The Prom: A Teen Rite of Passage (1080p, 4:45) features the cast
recalling their prom memories. Fifteen deleted scenes, presented in 1080p high definition, are
included, as are 1080p trailers for Good Luck Chuck and Disaster Movie.
Finally, disc one also features MoLog, a Blu-ray profile 2.0 feature that includes both the
exclusive Tanking Game and functionality that "allows users to insert and animate
shapes, text, and other graphics right into the film to create 'blogs' to share with other MoLog
users." Disc two of this set contains a digital copy of the film. Replayed on a second
generation iPod touch, the image quality is subpar, with nice detail and colors, though featuring
distracting heavy blocking in many shots, perhaps the worst yet on a digital copy. The audio is
nice and spacious, sounding better than several action-oriented movies do on the iPod.
My Best Friend's Girl isn't for everyone, but those inclined to enjoy crude sexual humor will
find this to be a regular in their Blu-ray rotation. The film features some good performances, a solid
concept, some funny lines and physical gags, and a nice mix of actors that mesh well together.
Unfortunately, the film does drag just a bit too long, particularly the unrated extended
version, but all in all, either cut of this film should satisfy its core audience. Lionsgate's Blu-ray presentation of My
Best Friend's Girl won't impress in any one area, but the overall package is acceptable. The film
features a grainy, often rough looking picture, a nice soundtrack, and a rather large selection of
bonus materials. Fans of this sort of cinema should have no reservations when it comes time to
add this one to the collection.
After an exciting CES 2009 - drooling over the latest Blu-ray hardware and software advancements - we are back to reality: Blu-ray releases. The latest sales data indicates that for the week following Christmas, Blu-ray took a record 16% of the home media disc ...
Lionsgate Home Entertainment has revealed the special features for the upcoming Blu-ray release of 'My Best Friend's Girl', which is due to hit store shelves on January 13th, day-and-date with the DVD release. Technical specs have still yet to be announced, but ...
Lionsgate Home Entertainment has announced that they will bring 'My Best Friend's Girl' to Blu-ray on January 13th, day-and-date with the DVD release. No technical specs have been announced at this time for this Kate Hudson, Dane Cook, and Jason Biggs film. Special ...
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