Review by Emily Craig (@emillycraig)
Directed by: Jaymes Camery
Starring: Ben Solenberger, Stephen Tobolowsky, Clint Howard, Emily Davenport
Basically, the title is what the film is – guys and girls can’t be friends, and that’s kind of the whole plot. There are no cliff hangers or any surprises, and it all moves quite slowly.
Directed by Jaymes Camery, Guys and Girls Can’t Be Friends is about Ben (Ben Solenberger), a single guy who delivers flowers for his father’s business, day in day out watching people who have someone to care for them when he has no one. Ben is miserable and lonely in love until one day he delivers flowers to his old high-school friend, Julie (Emily Davenport), and instantly creates a spark with her.
The film is officially listed as a romance, but it is more set out like a romantic comedy – although I don’t remember laughing once at the attempted light heartedness. It has a kind of American Pie feel, without the explicitness or comedy, which does strike a little odd. To start with, it feels like the two main characters were just reading from scripts, and of course that is what acting is, but it doesn’t need to feel that way. It was just very ropey and stiff, but every now and then they showed great potential, though it just wasn’t consistent enough. I would have liked to have seen more chemistry between the two characters but unfortunately there wasn’t any in my eyes. It’s obvious that when this happens, it’s very hard for the audience to relate to the relationship. I found myself warming more to the scenes where Ben is messing about with his friends, as they shared more chemistry, strangely enough!
There’s nothing wrong with the writing of the film, it’s just all very plain. Basically, the title is what the film is – guys and girls can’t be friends, and that’s kind of the whole plot. There are no cliff hangers or any surprises, and it all moves quite slowly with lovable montage scenes showing the progress of the relationship. I just didn’t really see the need for this film - with so many romantic films out there, new ones need to show some creativity in terms of plot. There was no real struggle in the relationship until right at the end, which seemed to amount from nothing.
All the negatives aside, it wasn’t all bad. I liked the soundtrack and visually the film didn’t fault; there was just nothing special about it, and to be quite honest, it bored me. In a romance, you need to like both characters to root for the relationship, and these characters had very few likable traits.
Guys and Girls Can't Be Friends is on DVD and VOD now.
