A Guy Thing (2003)

User Rating:

5.4/10   

Director:

Chris Koch

Writers (WGA):

Greg Glienna (story)
Greg Glienna (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

17 January 2003 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

Boy meets girl. Boy meets girl's cousin.

Plot:

When a man wakes up the morning after his bachelor party in bed with a strange woman he presumes he must have cheated on his fiancee.

Plot Keywords:

Bachelor Party | Wedding | Wedding Ceremony | Business Presentation | Neighbor

Cast

Jason Lee	...	Paul
Julia Stiles	...	Becky
Selma Blair	...	Karen
James Brolin	...	Ken
Shawn Hatosy	...	Jim
Lochlyn Munro	...	Ray
Diana Scarwid	...	Sandra
David Koechner	...	Buck
Julie Hagerty	...	Dorothy
Thomas Lennon	...	Pete
Jackie Burroughs	...	Aunt Budge
Jay Brazeau	...	Howard
Matthew Walker	...	Minister Green
Fred Ewanuick	...	Jeff
Lisa Calder	...	Tonya

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for language, crude humor, some sexual content and drug references.

Runtime:

101 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Netherlands:MG6 | Iceland:L | Malaysia:U | Finland:K-7 | USA:PG-13 (No.38897) | Canada:14A (Canadian Home Video rating) | Australia:M | Germany:6 | Singapore:PG | UK:12A

Filming Locations:

I-5 at Jackson Street, Seattle, Washington, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

In the scene where Paul goes to the drug store, the director's father can be briefly seen at the counter.

Goofs:

Continuity: When everyone rushes outside to investigate the car alarm, Becky is wearing her coat. All of the coats were earlier shown in the upstairs bedroom and she would not have had time to run upstairs and be outside the same time as everyone else.

Quotes:

[Paul and Pete discuss Paul sleeping with Becky after his bachelor party]
Pete: Wait 'till she's drunk... next Thanksgiving or Christmas, or better yet, this Saturday at your wedding, after she's had four gin and tonics and she steps up to the microphone and she's telling the whole world.
Paul: That's not gonna happen.
Pete: [mimicking Becky] Everyone, your attention please. I just think you should all know Karen's husband Paul nailed me last Saturday. Yeah, hot sex, and now I'm carrying his child. Thank you for listening. Please return to your entrees.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Film Geek (2005)

Soundtrack:

Strangers In The Night

Silly and weakly plotted but reasonably funny and made more enjoyable by Lee's performance

Paul Coleman is a week away from marrying Karen when he wakes up next to a dancer he met at his stag do. He quickly ushers her out of the flat and hopes never to see her again. Sadly it is a matter of hours before he is introduced to her again as Karen's cousin Becky. Paul tries to make it to his wedding day without Karen finding out – an aim that is made more difficult by Becky's crazy ex-boyfriend, overzealous police and the complex web of lies Paul spins to cover himself.

On paper this film sounds awful and indeed almost every second of it is teetering on the edge of being an awful romantic comedy that goes just where you expect it to. The plot is simply daft – one contrived set piece after another that is increasingly stretched as the film goes on. It ends in just the way you know it will (despite how much I hoped it wouldn't or failed to see how it could) and it will infuriate many in regards just how silly it is.

However it is funny enough to cover the cracks. Much of the humour is instantly recognisable and made up of well known routines (Paul climbing out of the bathroom window) or physical comedy (some pratfalls along the way). Happily there is plenty of slightly off the wall humour that, although not new, is quite good. An example would be the `fantasy sequences' but my favourite bit is Paul sweet memories of a male dance teacher. The whole thing is very silly and you should prepare yourself for that, but it does just about have enough silly laughs to keep it going.

For me the number one reason I enjoyed this film was the performance of Jason Lee. At no point does he suggest that this is a serious film, in fact many times a silly scene was saved by the `what the f is going on' look on his face – a hint to us that he is in the film and he can't believe what's happening, so the audience should go with him. For the rest of the time he lends himself really easily to the type of humour and is able to raise the material a bit. He is a good lead here and keeps bits of his `Brody' from Mallrats to good effect. Stiles is awful in my opinion. She doesn't really act and seems to be trying too hard to do `kooky' – it doesn't work. She has so little screentime that I found it very hard to accept that Paul would get anything from her. Blair has a thankless role and she doesn't quite carry it off – like Stiles I felt that she was trying too hard and almost came across as a caricature. Maybe they were both led by Lee's knowing performance and responded in a bad way. Larry Miller is quite funny (but predictable) as the minister next door and Brolin is a surprising find as the father in law.

Overall this is a very silly film, based on one daft scene after another that leads to a predictable ending that simply doesn't make sense even using the logic of this type of film. However it is funny and a great performance by Jason Lee makes it more enjoyable than it probably should be.