‘Girls and Boys’ disappoints
‘Fantasia’ a rehashed classic
By Samuel McKewon
Staff writer
FDm: Boys and Girls
Director: Robert Isocove
Stars: Claire Fbrlani,
Freddie Prinze, Jr.
Rating: PG-13
“Boys and Girls” is yet anoth
er teenage romantic comedy writ
ten and directed by men, who
nearly without fail fall below the
efforts of women. The film treats
women in die same problematic
way that men treat women in real
life.
The idea is idolatry, both in art
and in real life. “Boys and Girls”
is just another movie where the
men stay strong in die winds of a
fickle woman who must learn to
see her Romeo in a proper light.
It’s accurate, in that this is how
men see women: as whimsical,
careless human beings who
choose their partner according to
die time of the month.
The woman in this case is
Claire Forlani. Forlani, who
played a mature young heiress in
“Meet Joe Black,” recedes to a
commitment-shy, coltish college
student role here. Her Jennifer is
such an archetypal role - bright,
sunny, shallow - that it becomes
very clear very quickly just how
her character will shake down.
mat leaves us with rreddie
Prinze, Jr. as Ryan, the bespecta
cled engineering major who plays
Jennifer’s foil. Prinze is in his
third and final movie of this genre,
a trilogy he says he made for this
teen generation to reference in
hard times. Considering the previ
ous efforts (the so-so “She’s All
That” and the disastrous “Down
To You,” one of worst movies of
the decade), teenagers’ standards
cannot be high in his mind.
“Boys and Girls” is not the
worst of the three movies, but it is
certainly the least ambitious. A
two-pony show would be the best
description of the film, as Prinze
and Forlani taunt and tease each
other as best friends for most of
the movie. Finally, the relation
ship steers into deeper waters.
That’s when the predictable chau
vinistic joke of the film is pulled.
It’s Jennifer who get the cold feet,
when all Ryan ever wanted was
fairy tales and lollipops.
Under certain circumstances,
this plot line can work. But not in
a comedy, and even less likely in a
cheap, romantic comedy. Jennifer
is a likable flake at best. Ryan is, at
worst, a control freak that just
needs to loosen up a bit to achieve
perfection.
The movie then tacks on a
sidekick for Ryan in Hunter, a
buffed-up Jason Biggs from
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American Pie. Biggs has so
many different names in the
movie that it becomes confusing
as to which one is real. His role is
not funny. Nor is his long stint
cameo, in which he is surrounded
by four models in the back room
of a store. The scene was cut out of
the movie, presumably because
the filmmakers had no possible
avenue of including it
In retrospect, none of the film
is interesting or even mildly amus
ing. The characters are marginally
nice people. They have nothing
better to do but fall in love and
study for tests we never see them
taking.
wnen a moment ot romantic
inspiration finally strikes on the
world’s most famous bridge, it
sticks out as painfully contrived.
It’s as if the scene deserves to
belong in a stranger, more compli
cated movie.
One other thing in “Boys and
Girls” belongs somewhere else,
too - a small, rather good per
formance from Heather Donohue,
Please see MOVIES on 6
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The tast Night of Ballyhoo
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opening July 7
Johnny Carson Theater
Lied Center 11th &Q
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Howell Theatre
Temple Bldg. 12th & R
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