Synopsis:
Tank (Cook) faces the ultimate test of
friendship when his best friend hires him to
take his ex-girlfriend (Hudson) out on a lousy
date in order to make her realize how great her
former boyfriend is.
The Freak's
Rating: B- : Dane Cook is near the top of a
promotion list for Hollywood. The
magnetism he has on stage doing standup is
amazing and tying that to big box office money
is their goal. Having starred in the
underrated Employee Of The Month already, Cook
had already proven to me that he was good enough
to carry a movie. Though teenagers may
appreciate him, mainstream America has yet to
fully accept him.
Evaluating romantic comedies can be difficult,
since they are all formulaic by definition.
You must forgive many clichés simply because
without them the movie can't stick to its genre.
Believability can't be factored into a review,
nor can over the top dialogue. This
evaluation methodology is why some people never
enjoy a romantic comedy...never. I'm
looking at you Brian.
Though I believe that Kate Hudson has lost her
sex appeal, studios and casting directors are
apparently going to shove her down our throats a
few more years as the sexy female lead.
Hudson is surprisingly sweet in this role,
though I believe the rest of the world is losing
their attraction to her as well. She needs
to follow her mother's lead and take on a few
solo comedies or take a role outside of her
comfort zone in a Tarantino picture. We
are sick of seeing her wined and dined and if
she isn't careful we'll just be sick of her
altogether.
After the American Pie franchise ended, Jason
Biggs was destined to be typecast as the buddy.
This works well for him as he excels as the
incredibly dorky Dustin. Biggs has a
sincerity in his eyes that makes you feel bad
for the guy and it fits nicely here. Alec
Baldwin is awesome in his turn as Tank's
womanizing father, stealing every scene he is in
with dialogue reminiscent of his character on 30
Rock. He has an obigatory scene of
seriousness which is horribly tossed in, but he
does a good job. The real star of the
picture is Dane Cook, and he does deserve a
little praise for his turn here as Tank.
It is relatively easy for Dane to make us laugh
with his mannerisms, but he does do a decent job
with more serious moments as well. Cook is
the comedian of his generation and needs to be
given more to work with. Here's hoping the
studios give him a few more vehicles to test
drive before they condemn him to romantic comedy
hell.
There is cheesiness, the dialogue is over the
top and some of the moments meant to be
emotional may only be so to high school girls.
That said, I did enjoy a few moments of
sincerity and some hilarious moments that Cook
had his hand in directly. I laughed out
loud a number of times in this picture, so it
does merit a recommendation from me.
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