Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Boys and Girls (2000): Dir: Robert Iscove / Cast: Freddie Prinze Jr., Claire Forlani, Jason Biggs, Amanda Detmer, Heather Donahue: Dimwitted mess about gender differences. It stars Freddie Prinze Jr. and Claire Forlani who have been friends since he was twelve. They go through a string of failed romances until the idiot plot brings us to the obvious. Directed by Robert Iscove who made the somewhat better yet nonetheless stupid She's All That. He must be in some sort of desperate casting dilemma to get stuck with Prinze Jr. twice. He is not expanding himself and remains in that constant teen appeal. Forlani is a pretty face in need of material better than this. She seems smarter than the predictable tripe she gets stuck with here. In supporting roles is Jason Biggs who wishes to impress women through lies. My best advice for him is never to admit to being in this film. Amanda Detmer plays Forlani's lesbian roommate. Her sexuality is suppose to make her appear interesting or rebellious but it plainly looks tacked on as if the screenwriter was merely writing a type as oppose to a real human being with a personality beyond anything this film offers. Heather Donahue isn't exactly making a splash after The Blair Witch Project, and this will not increase her odds. The film should have examined gender differences. The script should be folded into a paper airplane and darted down a sewer. Score: 1 / 10

Ryan Walker (Prinze) & Jennifer Burrows (Forlani) have a history that goes way back, all the way to the time they met each other randomly on a flight. It continues off and on until college. The only problem is that both are in a relationship and they have contrasting personalities. Jennifer is funny, perceptive, wise, and beautiful. Ryan is an uptight mess that doesn't like to be out of his comfort zone. After a while, they become great friends. Things get a bit complicated when they develop feelings for each other. I saw this when it first came out years ago, strangely enough, I remember digging it. That is far from the case this time around. I was never bored, but it's one of the disingenuous romantic comedies I've seen in some time. Nothing in this movie felt genuine at all, despite the potential to be so. Right off the bat, we get conversations about orgasms and periods. When a romantic comedy pulls out all the stops in the beginning to try to get cheap laughs, you know you're in trouble. It tries to be clever and perceptive about the pratfalls of relationships to no avail. Despite the lame start, this movie did have potential to be a decent romantic comedy. It doesn't have the cast or the script to pull it off. It's also filled with unfunny slapstick that produces more groans than anything else. The only scene I laughed at is when Jason Biggs fakes being a priest and has a pool ball incident at a bar. That almost had me in stitches. The main problem is that I had trouble empathizing with any of the characters. All of them are rather obnoxious except for Biggs. Freddie Prinze Jr is a good guy in real life, but acting should have never been in his calling. His wooden style is painfully obvious. He lacks chemistry with Forlani and really brought the film down. Claire Forlani fares better and has the charm to spare. She's also gorgeous, but I felt her character was quite pretentious. There were a couple of times I wanted to smack her. Jason Biggs will never be known as a great actor, but I think he's funny. He injected some much needed life with his antics in this movie. The finale is completely clichéd and predictable. Forlani's monologue in the end made me cringe with how forced it sounded. Alyson Hannigan is wasted as a brief girlfriend of Prinze's. Amanda Detmer is OK as Forlani's odd friend.I wouldn't exactly call it horrible, but it was certainly mediocre for the most part. It comes across as extremely awkward and very phony. Romantic Comedy enthusiasts may wanna give this a look, but you're not missing anything4.8/10

Not as good as When Harry Met Sally, moved up from 1989 to 2000, with the screenplay dumbed down.Cinematography: 8/10 Good, but not exceptional.Sound: 8/10 Good, but not exceptional.Acting: 5/10 Again comparing to When Harry Met Sally, Freddie Prinze and Claire Forlani are not nearly as good as Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan. The supporting cast is not as strong. Jason Biggs is particularly weak.Screenplay: 4/10 This is about 15 minutes of plot spread over 94 minutes. All the Jason Biggs scenes could be omitted without loss.

So I'm sitting at my pc downloading Megadeth cds when I glance over to see what my wife is watching on TV. Having been with my wife for 10 years now I can usually guess what she's watching, and she has a tendency to enjoy romantic comedies. I wasn't wrong. The only thing worse than a romantic comedy is one that's contrived and insults the intelligence of the common viewer. I only managed to catch one scene but it left an impression on me which in turn led me here.The dance scene where everyone is supposed to be in a bar made me want to throw up on myself and then lick it off and smile about it. What bar on this planet has everyone doing a coordinated dance routine followed by a shower of soap / paint and water? How many bars on this planet have a shower setup on the dance floor? I also noticed the "dj" (guy playing mp3s with his pc) grabbed an umbrella to protect himself and his "equipment" from the "spontaneous" shower on the dance floor. Last time I checked WATER + ELECTRICITY = BAD. The only problem was that he never covered his "equipment". Oops. I like most of these actors and they have done far better work than this contrived, Hollywood laced garbage.