A Guy Thing (2002)

Average rating

(56%)

Starring:	Julia Stiles \| Jason Lee \| James Brolin \| Selma Blair \| Shawn Hatosy
Director:	Chris Koch
Studio:	MGM ENTERTAINMENT
Run time:	97 mins
Genres:	Comedy \| Romance
Languages:	English
Released:	October 20, 2003
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Paul (Jason Lee) is about to marry Karen (Selma Blair), by all accounts the perfect woman. Yet at his 'bachelor party,' he finds himself smitten by a clumsy Tiki-girl, Becky (Julia Stiles), and wakes up hung over the next morning only to find her in his bed. Guilt-stricken by the situation, he would like to tell Karen what he did. The only problem is that he doesn't remember what happened. As Paul tries to find out the truth, the discovery that Becky is actually his fiancee's cousin is all the more shocking. And to make matters even worse, Becky's psychotic ex-boyfriend, Ray (Lochlyn Munro), is a crooked cop who is determined to get Paul out of Becky's life by any means necessary. Ultimately, Paul must decide whether to marry Karen and take the logical next step, or to take a cue from Becky and embrace his more spontaneous and creative side. This slightly quirky romantic comedy from director Chris Koch (SNOW DAY) features a healthy dose of slapstick from Lee, who is well-suited for the role. James Brolin appears as Karen's macho father, and Julie Hagerty plays Paul's mildly flaky mother.

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Rating of 2 stars out of 5

It appears that men can be saved from making grave marital mistakes by kooky free spirits who wake up in their beds after the bachelor party and alert them to the possibility of a new life. If you can swallow that, you may enjoy this flimsy feature in which the stars do the comedy equivalent of tap-dancing so quickly, you don't notice the scenery's coming down around them. Jason Lee, Selma Blair and Julia Stiles earn their pay as groom, bride and spanner in the works respectively, who collide just days before the wedding and must resolve their romantic triangle with minimum emotional cost (it's a comedy after all) and maximum potential for embarrassing slapstick-and-innuendo-filled situations. Energetic, underwritten and forgettable, this is not so much a guy thing as an “everything else is sold out” thing.

Highest rated reviews

2 out of 2 people found the following review helpful:

Likeable but where are the laughs?

Melon from East Sussex, 24th July, 2004

This is an eminently watchable light farce that gets by on the likeability factor of its stars. Jason Lee can be a brilliant comic actor (for those who don't know check out 'Mallrats') while Julia Stiles is simply gorgeous. There's a good ensemble supporting cast too.

However the problem with the film is that as a comedy you watch it with a wry smile on your face but never actually laugh out loud, or even break into a chuckle. Not once. Ever. That's pretty disasterous for a film like this. Other movies with far less talent involved can get away with such a cheesemongouring ending by at least supplying a few decent belly laughs en route. This doesn't, so just seems like a massively wasted opportunity.

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