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Boys and Girls
Reviewed by Joe Soria
Freddy Prinze Jr. has been in about 5 movies in the last 2 years. 3 of which I’d rank as good to mediocre and the other 2 I would rate as horrendous. This would be one of the 2; the second being the entertainment world’s most widely criticized films the unwatchable Wing Commander.
Boys and Girls starts off positively. It shows two children sitting next to each other in a plane. A very organized and prepared boy named Ryan (Freddy Prinze Jr.) and an unorganized girl named Jennifer (Claire Forlani). A strange but funny encounter between them that gets this film off on a good foot but it’s a crash landing from then on. With this film’s beginning, I thought I might get something unique but I was very much disappointed.
The film flashes to them both in high school. Ryan is the school mascot. Jennifer is the homecoming queen of the opposing team. Ryan is beat up by Jennifer’s boyfriend. When the Ryan and Jennifer encounter each other for the first time since that plane encounter, it becomes a “remember-me” meeting in which Prinze makes his wishes clear. She wants to have coffee.He wants nothing to do with her.
Around this time, Prinze meets his roommate Hunter (Jason Biggs). Hunter is a little nutty and his antics provide the only humor in the film. Then as the films catch phrase goes, sex changes everything. Prinze falls for Forlani. The fully platonic relationship that had developed becomes jeopardized.
Forlani’s previous performance in Meet Joe Black was just as bad as the 3 hour crapfest. Her acting ability is still in question to me. Her appeal is in a different way. She’s a beautiful woman but her acting is not even close to her beauty. She just seems like a smart student who doesn’t do any work and in the end gets straight Bs without trying. If she tried she could straight As but she has to go for stronger roles. She’s not living up to her potential as everyone of my teacher’s used to tell me. Some see my reviews and still say that.
Freddie Prinze Jr. peaked after She’s All That. It was a funny movie, I enjoyed it but now he just keeps remaking it. In She’s All That he is the football player. In this movie, he’s a dork getting trampled by one. His role is like Rachel Leigh Cook’s in She’s All That. He’s the frog that turns into a prince. Prinze is not a prince of acting. He’s slow to reaction, his emotions look forced not natural look a good actor. As long as he’s making ‘em, I’ll be here panning these pieces of junk.On one positive note, Jason Biggs is quickly becoming a teenage equivalent to Jim Carrey. He’s funny, he’s got a rubbery face, he likes to do prop humor (everyone remembers that pie scene in American Pie right). He’s the one good part in the movie but he can’t save it. He, like so many other good supporting roles, isn’t on camera enough. If the movie was centered on his character with Prinze as a supporter, it would have been a better movie. Look out for his hysterical scene involving himself and 4 Victoria’s Secret lingerie models.
The film is heavily flawed besides this. It lacks necessary chemistry between its characters. It’s a junky teenage film retread with a different mix of people. Some new faces, some not. A film made under the Dimension Films logo but not even close to a horror film. The movie will come out, Prinze’s adoring fans will go see it and love it no matter what but I would never sit through this movie again.
Starring: Freddy Prinze Jr., Claire Forlani, Jason Biggs, Heather Donahue (the chick from The Blair Witch Project)
Rating: ½ out of 4 Stars
Reviewed by Joe Soria
Rated PG-13 for Freddie Prinze Jr.’s Chest
Running Time: 20 minutes too long
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