WHATEVER IT TAKES (2000)
Tagline: How low will they go to get the girls of their dreams?
(Comedy, Drama, Romance) [PG-13]
Tell her you need a friend to talk to. You're depressed. You're doing bad in school. You're dad's on crack.
In this one, a dude named Ryan is attracted to a girl in his high school named Ashley. He runs into this guy Chris who likes his friend Maggie. Chris offers to help Ryan win over Ashley by literally treating her like dirt. Ryan tells Chris to be sweet to Maggie, but she is turned off by him at first. As both guys start succeeding Ryan sees a different side of Maggie and sees what has been right under his nose all along. Is it too late?
First off, this movie has some young stars you have probably seen if you watch a lot of movies. One of them is Shane West who plays Ryan. West might be best known for THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN and recently MANEATER. He is very good in this and gets a lot more lines than he has in most of the stuff I have seen him in. Maggie is played by Marla Sokoloff who is best known for DUDE WHERE’S MY CAR and SUGAR & SPICE. Ashley is played by Jodi Lyn O'Keefe who was also in SHE’S ALL THAT (basically the same character as she is in this) and THE CROW: SALVATION. When it comes to the plot it’s basically a double Cyrano de Bergerac story.
This comes across as a typical teen romp from the ’90s even though it came out in 2000. I picked up a few things I can relate to. One of them is that girls kind of like guys that are jerks to an extent. While I have been able to hold down long relationships being “nice” even what I think of as being “nice” ends up landing me in the "jerk" zone from time to time. So it’s like, “I guess that’s why you are sticking around then?”. I also have a friend Rhiannon that says girls are psycho and that it is correct to think girls like jerks. She’s a girl, so I guess she would know? What I was also able to identify with in this flick is the carnival ride they were on where Ashley throws up. That ride is literally one of my favorites. I can also identify with fake people. I have a few stories for that, but getting back to the review, even if you hate some of the dialog, I think a lot of people can identify with some of the sentiments explored here.
We also get a "beauty is more than skin deep" situation. I think when you are immature looks more are the "picture" than they should be and you kind of overlook that internally someone might just really suck. So over time, someone that has a bunch of outward beauty can be terrible inside. In the reverse, someone you may not be super attracted to at first can become more physically attractive just based on other things like their personality, soul, and who they really are. This is not to say that some sort of physical attraction doesn’t hurt. The movie does feature two attractive girls, just with vastly different personalities. Because Ashley has the personality of a drinking faucet Ryan starts to see her for who she really is. Ryan actually becomes less of a person to Maggie because of his efforts to win over Ashley, it’s kind of a hot mess. This is probably why it reminds me of my high school years.
It also includes its fair share of crass humor and Ryan’s friend’s efforts to get women and see them naked feel like a “writing” afterthought (at least until the final scene). I will also guess that this is one of the few films you will ever see an accordion in outside of something involving Weird Al Yankovic. Ryan even plays “I Melt with You” originally by Modern English on his accordion in one scene. There is also a fun scene where they poke fun at TITANIC. It’s pretty glorious. I also thought the score and soundtrack were pretty good, but not great.
The production is fine, but I don’t see this movie blowing anyone away and I can see it just getting forgotten altogether under the weight of better films like SHE’S ALL THAT, NEVER BEEN KISSED, CAN’T HARDLY WAIT, and others.
Overall I had fun with this one and it was enough to give it 5 out of 7, but I can understand why some might not be huge fans.
GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF COLUMBIA PICTURES AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY.
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