"Just Friends"/Movie Review [no spoilers]

Saw "Just Friends" last night, since HBO was having a free preview weekend.

But first an aside... How sad is it that all weekend, there's only 1 movie that looks like it could be okay and that we bother to watch out of 8 free HBO channels! Okay, so we went to two parties and ran errands and weren't sitting around all day and night over the weekend... but still... maybe we're just not HBO movie people. Also, not sure what it says about me that I like "Curb Your Enthusiasm"--not enough to invest in HBO, not even sure I want the DVDs but if it's there, that I will watch. Okay, back to your regularly scheduled programming...

We saw "Just Friends" and walked in with low to moderate expectations of a light, romantic comedy. There really wasn't all that much romance but plenty of comedy. We wound up laughing a lot at the goofy, high-schooly, sibling-rivalry shtick we all do and the considerable slapstick that was very well executed.

Ryan Reynolds, probably better known for "Van Wilder" and "Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place", did a very good job at being sincere and ridiculous at the same time. [Obscure tidbit tangent: according to IMDb, Ryan and Alanis Morissette, fellow Canadian, were engaged for two years--until this past June.] Amy Smart does alright as the love interest. Anna Faris, as a Courtney Love-type with even less talent, often steals the show. And the scenes between Reynolds and his brother, played by Chris Marquette, just get better and better as the movie goes on.

Bottom line: I was much more entertained than I thought I would be. I give it 3 out of 4 Jujubees, especially if you can view it for free or a few bucks on pay-per-view.