A Guy Thing (2003)

Review by CJ

Director:
Chris Koch

Starring:
Jason Lee, Julia Stile, Selma Blair

Other notable appearances:
James Brolin, Thomas Lennon, Shawn Hatosy, Lochlyn Munro, Diana Scarwid, David Koechner, Julie Hagerty, Jackie Burroughs, Larry Miller

Running time:
101 minutes

Watch this if you liked:
My Best Friend’s Wedding, Heartbreakers, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, While You Were Sleeping, The Sweetest Thing

 

Paul (Lee) is a week away from marrying Karen (Blair) when he wakes up next to tiki dancer Becky (Stiles). Paul believes, with the encouragement of his brother and his best friend, that he can put what happened behind him and live happily ever after. That is until a twist in the tale puts his world into a spin.

From the opening sequence animation to the fun and eclectic soundtrack, everything about A Guy Thing screams late 90s to early noughties comedy flick. It works in its favour because A Guy Thing knows what it is and owns it by not deviating too much from the tried and true formula.

I’m neither a big fan of comedy or romance films, but I found A Guy Thing to be quite entertaining. There is a little bit of toilet humour, a dash of physical comedy, some situational comedy and a decent serve of jokes based around how different the two families are.

Jason Lee and Julia Stiles have great on-screen chemistry. Larry Miller only has a total of a couple of minutes on screen, but he is hilarious in every scene in which he appears. Likewise for Jackie Burroughs.

Anybody familiar with rom-com schtick will know how A Guy Thing ends just by looking at the DVD cover. But the ride is enjoyable and sure to entertain fans of romantic comedies or just turn of the century comedies in general.

Rating:

“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.”