Let me begin by admitting that I had never heard of A GUY THING when I read the title from the Blu-ray cover. Obviously, I write movie reviews in my spare time, so that makes me a fan of film. I watch trailers. I read entertainment websites. I average one screening in the theater per week. Yet I don’t remember seeing or hearing anything about this movie. And it’s not like this is an obscure, thought-provoking indie flick featured only at quaint film festivals. It was made by MGM.
Hoping to be surprised by witty dialog and an interesting plot, I reluctantly hit the play button. I’ll never get those 101 minutes back.
Paul (Jason Lee) is an average, nice guy who is engaged to Karen (Selma Blair). At his bachelor party, he strikes up an innocent conversation with Becky (Julia Stiles). The next thing we know, they are waking up in bed together without any memory of what exactly went on the night before. Paul begins to weave an intricate web of lies to keep his fiancé from discovering his secret. As fate would have it, his tall tales continue to lead him back to Becky. She’s in the toll booth, the CD store and the bar. To top it off, she just so happens to be the cousin of Paul’s betrothed and is in attendance at all of the pre-wedding functions.
We follow Paul through a series of unbelievable plot twists. It would be one thing if there was a shred of humor in any of the scenes, but I found myself irritated by Lee’s character. I wanted him to be funnier or play the physical part of the comedy with more gusto. With Blair playing the straight one, it was clear that her character was supposed wander around in the story unaware of all the silliness around her. And Stiles just looked bored.
I guess I just expected more from the actors. This movie was well before “My Name is Earl” and I’m assuming Jason Lee probably took the job in order to make ends meet for the month. Nothing significant had happened to Selma Blair since “Legally Blonde” and the electricity bill doesn’t pay itself, right? I imagine they went in to work every day knowing the script was off due to their lackluster performance on screen. However, a paycheck is a paycheck and they pressed on.
I will say that Paul’s parents played by the wonderful David Koechner and Julie Hagerty offered small glimmers of entertainment when they were featured. One particular scene involving the entire wedding party tripping out from drug-infused gravy was pretty funny. It’s too bad it lasted about one minute.
A GUY THING is less than mediocre at best. The plot is not believable. The characters are under developed. Perhaps the fact that it was a hot mess can be attributed to its four different screen writers. At the end, I didn’t care who Paul ended up with. I just wanted it to end.
Video (1080 High Definition): I really liked the opening credits. They featured a 60s flavored cool font and interesting sequence. That’s about all I’ve got.
Audio (Dolby Digital): The sound quality was excellent. Too bad I didn’t care what the actors were saying.
Commentary: I always find it annoying when the actors are more interesting in the commentary than they were in the actual film they are commentating. Where were these funny lines when the movie was being made?
Inside A GUY THING: We learn from one of the many, many screen writers that “comedy is funny when it’s a nightmare.” Ironically, when your work is a nightmare, it’s not comedy at all. One of the writers also said that they wanted a three picture deal and MGM said no way. It’s what I call, “dodging a bullet.”
Bachelor Party Confidential: This special feature interviews the cast’s thoughts on Bachelor parties. It was about as boring as the movie.
Groovy Gravy: The director talks about how fun it was to shoot the scene where the chef puts marijuana in the gravy. Again, this was the one redeeming quality of the entire movie, and it doesn’t surprise me that they showcased it in the special features.
Deleted Scenes: Along with the rest of the movie, these scenes deserved to be on the cutting room floor, except for the last one. Again, any moment where the parents were interacting was a breath of fresh air.
Alternate Endings: I preferred either of these endings to the one they chose. The first was poignant and the second was exciting.
Gag Reel: Sadly, we weren’t in on the joke. Even the gag reel ended up being…just a reel.
