Then Tank gets hired by his devastated roommate and best friend Dustin (Jason Biggs) to help him win back Alexis (Kate Hudson). Dustin and Alexis had been dating -- chastely -- for only five weeks when Dustin pours his feelings out to her over dinner. Stunned, Alexis breaks up with Dustin instead because she feels that she needs to play the field. Alexis has only had longterm serious relationships so far so she wants to experiment with commitment-free casual dating (and sex) for awhile.
Desperate, Dustin turns to Tank for help in getting her back. Tank reluctantly agrees, but discovers that Alexis is immune to his charms (or lack thereof) and she actually enjoys their awful date. They soon have a sex buddy relationship, even as an oblivious Dustin tries to win Alexis back. Much to his surprise, commitment phobic Tank finds himself falling for his best friend's girl. What will happen when the truth comes out?
Even if the concept of this movie (the rebound specialist) might be a new one, it nevertheless feels like we've seen My Best Friend's Girl a dozen times before. Maybe it's the woefully generic marketing (which Cook himself has taken to task), the song-based title, or the by the book casting -- Cook as a high-energy cad after the girl, Hudson as the object of the male lead's affectionate pursuit, Biggs as a nebbish in need of sex -- but the sum total leaves the viewer reeling from cinematic déjà vu. (Worse, there are only a few scattered moments -- such as a climactic wedding sequence -- where Cook is unleashed to score some genuine big laughs.)
Even the performance that steals the show -- Alec Baldwin's raging turn as Tank's unrepentant chauvinist pig father, Professor Turner -- isn't anything we haven't come to expect from the actor. Baldwin injects a huge boost of adrenaline and subversive wit into the film, but it's also a variation on the silver-tongued, manic bastard Baldwin has perfected on 30 Rock. All the cast members play their characters exactly as we've come to expect from them, with no attempts made to alter schtick that's growing old.
For a romantic comedy with a simple premise, My Best Friend's Girl drags on and on. We must sit through an endless series of boy loses girl, boy thinks about girl, boy talks to friend about girl, and boy goes back after girl scenes. A 100-minute movie with only 30 minutes of plot may as well be a bladder-busting three hours long. As much as this native Bostonian loves to see his old hometown on film, there are too many transitional sequences involving aerial footage of the same swath of the Back Bay set to a forgettable love song. Get on with it already! Since My Best Friend's Girl ultimately only works in fits and starts, why not just go watch one of the many other films that seem so much like it instead?
2.5 out of 5 Stars, 5/10 Score
