When venturing to the
movie theater to see a romantic comedy, one may be met with the usual
notions: These movies are predictable, “cute” and overall, clich?. But “My Best
Friend’s Girl,” a movie starring Dane Cook, Jason Biggs and Kate Hudson, gives
the exact opposite impression.

Taking the audience by surprise and setting them into a fit
of laughter, the first 10 minutes of this movie reels viewers in, showing the
repulsive measures men can take while dating, which would most likely compel a
woman to go back to her “safe” option. 
While adding humor, director Howard Deutch (“The Whole Ten Yards”) presents
a situation many women can relate to when summoning up their courage to go out
with guys they know very little about.

Tank Turner, played by stand-up comedian Dane Cook, is a chauvinistic
pig when it comes to dating women. Well, at least that’s the guy he pretends to
be in order to send these women running back into the arms of their loving
boyfriends and fiances.  Tank may come
off as a jerk without a care about his love life, but not even his ego is able
to stop him from falling for Alexis (Hudson, “Fool’s Gold”),  his best friend’s girlfriend. Dustin, (Biggs,
“Over Her Dead Body”), the best friend, gets taken advantage of when Alexis
tells him she wants to see other people after going on a terrible date with Tank.

However, she quickly starts a fling with Tank. Along with
the difficulty of figuring out who Alexis is going to choose or even if she is going to choose Tank or Dustin, comes the
difficulty of deciding which lovable character you are rooting for because,
although Tank flashes his bad attitude toward women throughout the movie, his
vulnerability makes his flawed character easily likable.

Cook’s turn as bad boy Tank Turner displayed good judgment
on behalf of the casting department; he fits the part with his devilish charm and
condescending attitude. Not intended for the younger audience and without a
second thought toward being offensive, director Deutch uses abrasive humor and
sexual content (i.e. pulling down his pants and asking his girlfriend’s mother
to give him a blow job) to portray Tank’s lack of respect for women. If you are
a fan of Cook’s comedy, then you will enjoy this movie. His raw, brusque humor
and wit translates from his comedic act to the big screen, especially when
Deutch gives him free reign to improvise at key moments.

Although the idea of this movie may be a guy falling for his
best friend’s girlfriend, the story is really centered on Tank Turner and his
struggle to transform from a manipulative jerk to an empathetic human who realizes
the people he cares about and the right thing to do can be more important than
what he wants.

“My Best Friend’s Girl” had its viewers cracking up. It’s
more fast-paced than what one might expect from a romantic comedy, and the unpredictability
from its plot to the movie’s theme of bad-boy-turned-good makes it more unusual
and enjoyable than typical rom-com fare.

3 stars out of 5